1-on-1 with Twins legend, MLB Hall of Famer Jim Kaat

KSTP sports director Joe Schmit sat down Sunday night with Twins legend and soon-to-be Hall of Fame enshrinee Jim Kaat.

***Click the video box above to watch our story on Kaat***

The Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony is Sunday, and Schmit will be reporting live from Cooperstown, New York all weekend. Tony Oliva, another Twins legend, is also entering the Hall of Fame. It’ll be a big Twins party all weekend long.

Oliva and Kaat, both 83, join Harmon Killebrew (1984), Rod Carew (1991), Kirby Puckett (2001) and Bert Blyleven (2011) as the fifth and sixth Twins to be elected to the Hall of Fame, as well as the first Twins to go into the Hall of Fame in the same class.

They also become the 11th and 12th people in franchise history to have plaques at the Hall, including the Washington Senators’ Goose Goslin (1968), Clark Griffith (1946), Bucky Harris (1975), Walter Johnson (1936), Heinie Manush (1964) and Sam Rice (1963).

Both players received 12 out of a possible 16 votes (75%) to win election from the Golden Era Committee.

A native of Michigan, Kaat went 283-237 (.544) with a 3.45 ERA (4530.1 IP, 1738 ER), 180 complete games, 31 shutouts, 17 saves, 1083 walks, 2461 strikeouts, a 1.26 WHIP and a .264 opponent batting average in 898 career games (625 starts) for Washington/Minnesota (1959-73), Chicago-AL (1973-75), Philadelphia (1976-79), New York-AL (1979-80) and St. Louis (1980-83).

Kaat’s best season in Minnesota came in 1966, when he went 25-13 with a 2.75 ERA.