Not in the HOF but a lifetime Twin? I'd say yes, retire his number.

But spending as much time away from the Twins as he did, I just couldn't see retiring his number.

I disagreed with retiring both Hrbek's and Blyleven's numbers. I would disagree with retiring Torii's as well, but he is a Twins Hall of Famer for sure. Congratulations to Hunter on a fine career.

If Hunter had not come back this year, I would've said no. Now, let's see what happens the next couple of years. If this team makes a World Series and the young OF are a big part of the success, Hunter might become part of a final Twins HOF-type story. Retire his number? Probably not.

I disagreed with retiring both Hrbek's and Blyleven's numbers. I would disagree with retiring Torii's as well, but he is a Twins Hall of Famer for sure. Congratulations to Hunter on a fine career.

I have to disagree with you about Blyleven. He was a dominant pitcher throughout his early twenties. He just didn't get much support. He had a 47.1 fWAR in his first seven years (6.7 WAR/yr), then returned to help win a World Series. His fWAR was second in MLB to Tom Seaver in his first Twins stint.

No question Hunter is a Twins Hall of Famer. It may not even be all that long before they do it. 

I also think he's done enough in his career to be one of those guys that stays on the MLB HOF ballot for a few years. His numbers, coupled with his defense are very impressive.

However, for me, retiring a number is bigger and needs to be more exclusive. In my opinion, it should be just about their Twins career. When it comes to bWAR, Hunter during his Twins years only, is tied for 15th all-time in Twins history (1961-present) with Jim Perry.  

That said, I would be fine if no one wore that uniform number again, just not formalizing it in the banners. 

I would not retire his number either. It's already too easily done. And this would lower the bar further. That's not particularly a shot at Hunter. It's more of a call to keep the standards higher. Hrbeck? Lifelong Twin, although I still think a bit of an underachiever. But also, face of the franchise, and leader. Blyleven? In the HOF, nuff said. Hunter? Great Twin, but also took the money and ran. Had a very convenient and profitable 10.5m epiphany at the end.

I disagreed with retiring both Hrbek's and Blyleven's numbers. I would disagree with retiring Torii's as well, but he is a Twins Hall of Famer for sure. Congratulations to Hunter on a fine career.

He was vital to the 87 team's success, our first major sports championship since the forgotten Mpls Lakers. He is in the HOF as much for what he did here as anywhere else.

I am old enough to remember the aging nucleus of the Twin's teams he played on early in his career, thus his nearly .500 record. They won 98 games his rookie year then went on to win totals of 74, 77, 81, 82, 76 and finally 85 until he was traded. Many of his losses were low scoring 1 run games as evidenced by an ERA well under 3.00 during 4 of his 6 first season and at or very close to 3.00 the other 2 seasons. The complete game and innings pitched totals he put up were astounding and he still lasted over 20 seasons. He would be a GOD now with those stats.

The Twin's all time pitching stats include those of the Washington Senators so I'm excluding them when I attempt to find Blyleven's place among Twin's pitching records. He's second to Jim Kaat in wins for the Twins, 4th in ERA with way more innings pitched than those above him, 3rd in #of starts, 2nd in innings pitched, 1st in SrikeOuts, 5th in WHIP, again with 1300 more innings pitched than the closest guy above him.

Kaat, Radke and Santana all played for much better Twins teams than Blyleven, yet still trail him in most pitching categories. Kaat only bested Blyleven in number of wins, innings pitched and HR and BB allowed rates per season though he did surpass Blyleven in total Hr's and BB's allowed with all the extra innings pitched.

Kaat had more wins for way better teams, but his ERA and WHIP weren't as good and Bert struck out nearly 200 more guys in roughly 450 less innings. Radke was near him in wins but gave up over 80 more HRs in 100 less innings. Though Radke did walk far fewer guys than Blyleven he still has a higher WHIP of 1.26 vs 1.19 which tells me that Radke was far more hittable. Radke was the quintessential "pitch to contact" guy that the Twins based their drafting on for too many years.

You have to go back to Walter Johnson, one of the all time best ever to find a more dominant pitcher with reasonable longevity in the Twins/Senators organization, than Bert Blyleven. Blyleven is arguably the most dominant pitcher to ever don a Twin's uniform for a reasonably long period of time. Jim Kaat is the only one who comes somewhat close, with Brad Radke and Johan Santana perhaps tied for a distant 4th.

I think yes Bert did enough, and certainly more than any other Twins pitcher, to deserve to have his jersey number retired.