WHY I THINK JIM KAAT SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

WHY I THINK JIM KAAT SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN 

By- Damien 

Jim Kaat pitched from 1959 through 1983, a total of 25 years, and was effective all the way to the end. He could have been the steadiest pitcher of all time, winning 10 or more games for 15 straight years and throwing over 200 innings in fourteen different seasons. Kaat was more than just a consistently good pitcher; he was one of the best pitchers in baseball in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. He was also of enormous value for his workload (eleven seasons with 34 or more starts), impeccable control (2.2 walks per nine innings), fielding (16 Gold Gloves), hitting (232 hits including 16 homers), and durability (he always pitched without sleeves, regardless of the weather). Jim Kaat started his career with the Twins in 1959, pitching five innings and going 0-2. He worked 50 innings in 1960 and joined the rotation in 1961. He won 18 games in 1962 and 17 in 1964. He went 18-11 with a 2.83 ERA in 42 starts for the pennant winning Twins of 1965 and beat Sandy Koufax in Game 2 of the World Series. In 1966, Kaat again led the Majors in starts, won 25 games, and struck out 200 batters for the first time. Kaat continued to be a consistent hurler for the next decade, posting a 2.94 ERA in 1968 and a 2.02 in 1972, but appeared finished in 1973 when, at the age of 34, he was rocked for a 4.37 mark. Kaat came back to win 20 games in each of the next two seasons for the Chicago White Sox. He won a dozen games in 1976, his last year as a regular starter, and he slowly started to decline. He bounced from team to team as a reliever and an occasional starter, helping the Cardinals to the World Series Championship in 1982. He pitched his last game in 1983. Kaat is also a famous broadcaster, active since 1965 and the winner of many awards. Jim Kaat was an incredibly steady starter, a pitcher of 25 seasons (a record at the time of his retirement), the winner of 283 MLB games, and a player who was talented in all phases of the game. How many such players are there? Not many. He belongs in the Hall of Fame. 

LIFETIME STATISTICS 

Games Pitched career: 898 season high: 62 in 1982 

Starts career: 625 season high: 42 in 1965 led AL: 42 in 1965, 41 in 1966 

Complete Games career: 180 season high: 19 in 1966 led AL: 19 in 1966 

Shutouts career: 31 season high: 5 in 1962 led AL: 5 in 1962 

Games Finished career: 102 season high: 25 in 1980 

Wins career: 283 season high: 25 in 1966 led AL: 25 in 1966 

Losses career: 237 season high: 17 in 1961 

Winning Percentage career: .544 season high: .658 in 1966 

ERA career: 3.45 season low: 2.75 in 1966 

WHIP career: 1.259 season low: 1.070 in 1966 

Innings Pitched career: 4,530 ⅓ season high: 304 ⅔ in 1966 led AL: 304 ⅔ in 1966 

Strikeouts career: 2,461 season high: 211 in 1967 

Strikeouts Per Nine Innings career: 4.9 season high: 7.2 in 1967 

Walks career: 1,083 (116 intentional) season high: 82 in 1961 

Strikeouts Per Walk career: 2.27 season high: 5.02 in 1967 led AL: 3.73 in 1966 

Saves career: 17 season high: 4 in 1980 and 1981 

Fielding Percentage career: .947 season high: .984 in 1963 

Double Plays career: 65 season high: 8 in 1961 

Putouts career: 262 season high: 19 in 1961, 1963, and 1966 

Assists career: 744 season high: 72 in 1962 led AL P: 72 in 1962 

Caught Stealing Percentage career: .341 season high: .750 in 1975 

Pickoffs career: 24 season high: 3 in 1966, 1972, and 1974 

DID YOU KNOW? 

-nicknamed “Kitty Kaat” 

-finished fifth in the AL MVP Award voting in 1966, 20th in 1967, and 28th in 1975 

-finished fourth in the AL Cy Young Award voting in 1975 

-was the 1966 AL TSN (The Sporting News) Pitcher of the Year 

-won the most Gold Gloves in a Minnesota Twins uniform at any position (12) 

-was a three time all-star (in 1962, 1966, and 1975) 

-won two AL Player of the Week awards 

-pitched 1 ⅓ innings in his final MLB game without allowing an earned run 

-led the AL in batters faced (1,227) in 1966 

-allowed the fewest walks per nine innings in the AL in 1966 (1.6) and 1973 (1.7) 

-batted .375/.444/.500 in 1981 and .289/.304/.489 in 1972, and in 1970 was the last pitcher to receive an intentional walk 

-went 1-for-2 at the plate in the 1976 NLCS and drove in two runs in the 1965 World Series 

-among MLB pitchers, ranks 28th in career games pitched, 17th in starts, 31st in wins, 25th in innings, 44th in strikeouts, 25th in batters faced, and 34th in putouts 

-also played one game as a DH, 24 as a pinch hitter, and 85 as a pinch runner 

-was the oldest player in the AL in 1979 and in the NL in 1983 

-was inducted into the Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame in 2001 

-was the last player from the original Washington Senators to retire