Jim Kaat: A Hall of Fame Pitcher Who Spent 60+ Years In Baseball

[Al from SoDak]

Jim Kaat was a Hall of Fame pitcher who spent 13 of his 25 major league summers in Minnesota. He was an original Twin after having started in Washington two seasons before the Senators moved to Minnesota. Kaat played for four more organizations in ten seasons after leaving Minnesota in 1973 when Calvin Griffith thought he was washed up. After his playing career, he settled into a broadcasting career that lasted almost 40 years. It’s safe to say that few people have seen as many Major League Baseball games as Kaat.

 

Image courtesy of © Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

James Lee Kaat was born November 7, 1938, in Zeeland, Michigan. He grew up in a family with four children. His next closest sibling was nine years older. 

Jim Kaat was attracted to sports at an early age, playing baseball and basketball as a child. He also really enjoyed the history of baseball. Early in the *documentary, Kaat talks about his dad having collected cards going back to 1900. Jim studied his dad’s collection of Base Ball Guides, giving him an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the history of the game, which must have contributed to his successful post-playing career as a baseball analyst. Broadcasting games allowed Kaat to showcase his knowledge of baseball and its history while covering the game he loved.

Jim said, “I had the perfect parents for an athlete. They never let me get too big, never let me think too much of himself, never made me the center of attention.” Kaat asserts his mother only saw him pitch once, that being the second game of the 1965 World Series. She never went to any of his games growing up. His father often attended those youth games, but it was always far down the line, far away from the action. Neither parent made a big deal of their son’s athletic ability. 

After high school, Jim went five miles down the road to Holland, Michigan to Hope College. The left-handed pitcher joined the baseball team on campus. He played a single season and gave up one single run all year. Somewhere around this point, Jim had grown from five-foot-ten to six-four-four, and professional scouts started to notice him.

After that first year in college, Jim was offered contracts from multiple Major League teams. Kaat took Washington’s offer of $4,000 and he immediately went to the minor leagues, where he would play from 1957 to 1959. 

The big left-hander was called up to the big leagues in 1959 and got two starts toward the end of the season. Neither start was particularly impressive, but he made the Opening Day roster in 1960. He started with two good starts in April but soon struggled. His Major League ERA in 1960 was 5.58, but again, he spent most of the year in the minor leagues. In 1961, he was up with the Twins all season, pitched 200 innings, had a 3.90 ERA, but lost 17 games. Despite the rough win-loss record, he had shown that he belonged. 1962 started a stretch of 15 consecutive seasons that he won at least double-digit games. He had a career high 25 wins in 1966 and won 20+ games two other times.

Baseball fans across the country got to know Kaat in the 1965 World Series when he was matched up against Sandy Koufax three times. Kaat had a brilliant start in Game Two. He had a complete game, allowing seven hits and only one run as the Twins won 5-1, giving them a two games-to-none lead in the series. However, that would be the high point for the Twins and their fans. It was just the Dodgers’ — and more specifically, Koufax’s — year. The Twins scored only two runs in their four World Series losses. Koufax shut them out twice and won World Series MVP honors. Sometimes, the other team just performs better. 

In 1967, the Twins were in a heated pennant race with the Red Sox and Tigers. Kaat started the second to last game of the season in Boston. He had given up no runs into the third inning. However, he felt something in his elbow and had to come out of the game. Kaat said, “It was the Tommy John injury before the Tommy John surgery was invented.” It was a tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. In today’s day, he would have had the Tommy John surgery immediately and missed at least a year of action. In 1967, the prescribed treatment was to rest all winter and then go out and pitch in 1968. Kaat said, “I had to learn to pitch a different way. It was about three to four years before I was back to normal.” Because of Kaat’s injury, the Twins lost that penultimate game and the next day’s season finale, thereby losing the American League by one game. 

In August 1973, the Twins waived Kaat, and he was claimed by the Chicago White Sox. Kaat said, “Calvin [Griffith, Twins Owner] was tough to get a dollar out of. But I hadn’t been performing very well, and Calvin simply thought I was done. Keep in mind I was 34 at that time, getting older for a ball player. But I thought I was far from done.” 

After leaving the Twins, Kaat bounced around a little. As mentioned, he played for the White Sox. From there, he went to the Phillies. Unfortunately for Kaat, he was sold to the Yankees in 1979, missing the Phillies’ 1980 World Series Championship. Then, he was sold to the Cardinals during the 1980 season, missing the Yankees’ 1981 World Series appearance. It was appearing increasingly probable that Kaat was never going to the win a World Series despite his illustrious career. That changed with the 1982 Cardinals, who beat the Brewers 4-3 for the World Series championship. Kaat was a left-handed reliever and a mentor to much of the pitching staff. During that season, Kaat appeared in 62 games, threw 75 innings, and had a 3.82 ERA. In the postseason, he pitched in four games, allowing a single run. 

With his World Series win in 1982 with St. Louis, Kaat achieved two obscure records which illustrate his longevity. He holds the record for the longest period between World Series appearances: 17 years between 1965 to 1982. In addition, his 24 seasons played before winning a championship is also a record for any of the four major sports in North America. I can’t imagine that record ever being broken. 

Baseball-Reference reports that Kaat was simply released by the Cardinals on July 6, 1983, less than a year after the World Series victory. That was his 25th season, and he was 44 years old. Kaat said he wanted to pitch until he was 50. It’s easy to see he was one of those players who would have to have the jersey ripped off their back rather than voluntarily retire. Some guys just love the game that much.

After his playing career, Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose hired Kaat as pitching coach. Kaat served in that capacity in 1984 and 1985 but turned quickly to television broadcasting. Kaat said he turned to broadcasting because it required far fewer hours than coaching, and because of his interest in baseball history, probably going back to his father’s almanacs. Kaat is simply a natural storyteller and better suited for the television booth. He did that job for various teams and media outlets from 1986 until 2002.

Jim Kaat’s career statistics were 283 wins (31st all-time) and 237 losses. He had a career ERA of 3.45 (108 ERA+). In 4,530 innings (25th all-time), he struck out 2,461 batters (44th all-time). He was a three-time All-Star and won 16 Gold Gloves. Kaat won seven television Emmy Awards during his broadcasting career. He is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame. His uniform number, 36, has been retired by the Twins.

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[*Much of this article was taken from my interview of Jim Kaat about his Kitty to Cooperstown documentary. Please check out both if you enjoyed this article.]

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[Fire Dan Gladden]

Kaat's broadcasting career deserved more than two sentences in an article like this.  I mean 7 emmy awards!  He was a natural for television; I was extremely disappointed that the Twins couldn't keep him in the booth

[glunn]

Great article.

[Mark G]

Correct me if I am wrong, but he also pitched in an era when pitchers batted and I believe I remember him having a .185 lifetime average.  And yet, he couldn't get into the HOF until he was what, 80?  I will simply never understand that one.  

And, yes, I loved listening to him broadcast games; very few like him.  

[Karbo]

Kaat lived just down the road from us in the 60's, and IMO he was a great player, but an even better man.

[Kevin]

And he won 16 Gold Glove awards!

[Drewmun247]

16 Gold Gloves and 16 Home Runs. He was a HOF guy before he was ever considered a MLB HOFer

 

[Linus]

Great article as always. Got to the bigs the year I was born and pitched until I graduated from college. Crazy. He was just a really good all around athlete. He was asked what his strongest memory of 1965 was and his answer was revealing. “Most people assume it was the World Series. What hit me the hardest was that in spring training my best friend (Tony O) couldn’t stay in the same hotel as me”

[mnfireman]

Twins career:

Jim Kaat: .191/.235/.275 (.510 OPS) 14 HR, 88 RBI, 296/55 K/BB ratio

Christian Vazquez: .215/.267/.311 (.577 OPS) 16 HR, 73 RBI, 182/54 K/BB ratio

My $$$ on Kitty Kaat if I need a clutch PH...

[USAFChief]

Thanks for a great read!