Watching 42 on Friday’s movie night, I had forgotten that among shots of MLB players wearing 42 during the pre-credits montage, there is one at Target Field. That got me thinking about the Twins who have worn #42 outside of April 15 every year, and checking Baseball Reference, there have been just six. (Two of them were Senators, but they still count.)
They are:
Al Kozar
2B, 1950
Kozar spent all of 1948 and 1949 with the Senators, wearing #2 the first season and #1 the second. For the start of the 1950 season, he wore #42, an unusual number change for a player — players usually move to a lower number. However, he only wore #42 for 20 games before being traded to the White Sox, where he played 10 more games before his MLB career ended.
Cass Michaels
2B, 1950-1
Michaels came over to Washington in the Kozar trade and immediately claimed the vacated number. He wore #42 for the rest of 1950 and part of 1951 before switching to #7 (I could not find any further specifics as to when he switched), but in that new number, his Senators career ended the same way as his predecessor’s: a trade, sent to the Browns in May 1952.
Jim Manning
RP, 1962
The first Twin on the list, Manning wore #42 during his entire career: seven innings across five games at the start of the 1962 season.
Jack O’Connor
SP, 1982
O’Connor’s case is interesting. He wore #33 for most of his four seasons (well, three seasons and two games) in Minnesota, but he wore #42 for at least part of 1982, his only season as a primary starter. He ended that season with a 4.29 ERA, the lowest ERA of any full season in his career, walking 57 and striking out 56 across 126 innings.
Butch Huskey
OF, 2000
When MLB retired #42 across the league on April 15, 1997, the dozen or so players still wearing that number were allowed to keep it for the rest of their careers, including if they changed teams. Huskey was a Met in 1997, and three years and three teams later, he found himself wearing his usual number in Minnesota. He stayed with the team until mid-July, playing 64 games as a Twin, until the team traded him to Colorado, where he finished his career wearing #35.
Mike Jackson
RP, 2002
Another post-’97 holdover, Jackson had been with Cleveland at the time of the number’s retirement, and he pitched for that club for three seasons. After missing the 2000 season with injury and spending 2001 in Houston, he signed with the Twins as a free agent and spent 2002 pitching in the Metrodome. Jackson had a solid season, appearing in 58 games to the tune of a 3.27 ERA, but failed to make the bigs with Arizona the next season before finishing his career with the White Sox (wearing #38) in 2004.
And that is the entire list… until April 15 comes around again.
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