James Lee "Kitty" Kaat

[Crash Course]

He pitched in the major leagues from 1959 to 1983.

[Golden Bear]

283 wins, 4 decades, umpteen gold gloves, plainly the best pitcher in his league in 1966, a good to very good starting pitcher for 15 seasons, hung on to pitch relief and provide veteran savvy for a WS winner in 1982, and a superb announcer in his post-playing career.

Read the sticky, folks. This guy belongs in Netshrine.

[YankeeLinks]

Memorable for longevity, Gold Gloves and excellent announcing

[crazydiamond]

144 RSAA overall is quite good, and good enough for me to vote him in. But let's build a better case for him.
From 1960-1975, only 8 other pitchers (Gibson, Seaver, Perry, Marichal, Jenkins, Niekro, Palmer) had more RSAA than Kaat (182)
Only 4 players in Senators/Twins history have a higher RSAA than Kaat (124)
In only 92 games from the White Sox, compiled 53 RSAA. Only one to do more with less for the ChiSox was Monty Stratton (56 in 70 games)

[Nuclear Dish]

Look, whether he really deserved them or not, the guy did win 16 Gold Gloves. That's hard to argue with.

And then throw in his better-than-average career as a pitcher, which stretched nearly 3 decades, and it's hard to keep him out.

Does he belong in the HOF? No way. Does his career deserve to be remembered? Absolutely.

When I worked for the Orioles, I had video room duty for the All-Star Game in 1993. Since I wasn't as busy as normal (I didn't have to catch each player's ABs on his own individual tape, as I did when the O's were playing), I got to spend most of my time hanging out.

On that night, it meant spending my time with Jim Kaat, who was assigned to do American League player interviews (the setup was in the back of the video room) after they were pulled from the game. What a genuinely nice guy. Just friendly as could be, knowledgeable about the game without being condescending, and pretty funny too. I've been around a lot of players, some who were nice and others who were nasty, but Jim Kaat will always be memorable to me as being one of the good guys.

[RascalJones]

I like how only the people that vote Yes are posting their reasons.

My reason for voting Yes is what Dish said:

"Does he belong in the HOF? No way. Does his career deserve to be remembered? Absolutely."

[rc3000]

I haven't voted this one yet because I am still on the fence. I agree that he had a lot of wins and he won a lot of gold gloves. But from my memory (post 1971) I don't remember thinking of him as a top pitcher. Earlier a 15 year RSAA was given is it possible to break it down in 5 year chunks? I see the list of people he wasn't better then I am wondering about some of the people he was better then.
The longevity arguement is something that comes up a lot when I am talking to people. I tend to prefer higher peak players although there is a lot to be said for "he was good enough to last this long".

[KCBOOMER]

Not a great pitcher by any means, but good enough for me. No real discernible peak. Re-invented himself when he was 35 with his abbreviated wind-up delivery. Later became an adequate reliever. Would be more highly regarded if he had hung-em up after age 37.

[Golden Bear]

Not a great pitcher by any means, but good enough for me. No real discernible peak. Re-invented himself when he was 35 with his abbreviated wind-up delivery. Later became an adequate reliever. Would be more highly regarded if he had hung-em up after age 37.


Clearly a one year peak in 1966, where he certainly would have won the Cy if it were awarded separately in the AL and NL. '66 was the last year it was a combined ML award, and Koufax won it in his last season.

[mainsr]

Would be more highly regarded if he had hung-em up after age 37.

And if he hadn't spent the last few years shilling for the Evil Empire. But he gets my vote.

[Crash Course]

FWIW, he's retiring from YES this Friday: http://www.waswatching.com/archives/2006/09/jim_kaat_to_ret.html

[rc3000]

FWIW, he's retiring from YES this Friday: http://www.waswatching.com/archives/2006/09/jim_kaat_to_ret.html
Ok now I can vote for him since he has seen the error of his way...