Jim Kaat, baseball player, 1959-1983

Jim Kaat

⭐ Hall of Fame 2022

Born: 11/7/1938 in Zeeland, MI, USA

MLB Debut: 1959-08-02 | Final Game: 1983-07-01

Bats: L | Throws: L | Height: 6'4" | Weight: 205 lbs

Full name: James Lee Kaat

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Biography

Jim Kaat, born in 1938, was a prominent pitcher whose Major League Baseball career spanned from 1959 to 1983. Over his 24 seasons, Kaat established himself as a reliable and durable presence on the mound, finishing his career with a record of 283 wins and 237 losses. His earned run average (ERA) of 3.45 reflects his effectiveness throughout various phases of his career, which coincided with the transition from the deadball era to a more offense-driven game. Kaat's longevity and ability to adapt to different pitching styles contributed to his success, as he not only racked up 2,461 strikeouts but also secured 18 saves, showcasing his versatility. Kaat was selected as an All-Star three times, highlighting his status among the elite pitchers of his time. His contributions to the game were recognized with his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2022, solidifying his legacy as one of the greats in baseball history. Known for his exceptional fielding skills and ability to handle the bat, Kaat was a standout player who left an indelible mark on the sport, making him a significant figure in the history of Major League Baseball.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
283 237 898 625 180 31 18 4530.3 4620 1738 395 1083 2461 3.45 0

Career ERA 3.45 vs. league average 3.67 across their career seasons — 6.0% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1959 WSN AL 0 2 3 2 0 0 0 5.0 7 7 4 2 12.60 — -
1960 WSN AL 1 5 13 9 0 0 0 50.0 48 31 31 25 5.58 3.82 (-46%) -
1961 MIN AL 9 17 36 29 8 1 0 200.7 188 87 82 122 3.90 4.03 (+3%) 2614.8
1962 MIN AL 18 14 39 35 16 5 1 269.0 243 94 75 173 3.14 3.96 (+20%) 3375.6
1963 MIN AL 10 10 31 27 7 1 1 178.3 195 83 38 105 4.19 3.46 (-21%) -1768.8
1964 MIN AL 17 11 36 34 13 0 1 243.0 231 87 60 171 3.22 3.58 (+10%) 1918.0
1965 MIN AL 18 11 45 42 7 2 2 264.3 267 83 63 154 2.83 3.50 (+19%) 1014.2
1966 MIN AL 25 13 41 41 19 3 0 304.7 271 93 55 205 2.75 3.52 (+22%) 4072.8
1967 MIN AL 16 13 42 38 13 2 0 263.3 269 89 42 211 3.04 3.30 (+8%) 5199.7
1968 MIN AL 14 12 30 29 9 2 0 208.0 192 68 40 130 2.94 2.98 (+1%) 1229.5
1969 MIN AL 14 13 40 32 10 0 1 242.3 252 94 75 139 3.49 3.61 (+3%) -141.8
1970 MIN AL 14 10 45 34 4 1 0 230.3 244 91 58 120 3.56 3.89 (+8%) 165.8
1971 MIN AL 13 14 39 38 15 4 0 260.3 275 96 47 137 3.32 3.47 (+4%) 4527.9
1972 MIN AL 10 2 15 15 5 0 0 113.3 94 26 20 64 2.06 3.26 (+37%) 2252.1
1973 MIN AL 11 12 29 28 7 2 0 181.7 206 89 39 93 4.41 3.75 (-18%) -1726.5
1973 CHW AL 4 1 7 7 3 1 0 42.7 44 20 4 16 4.22 3.75 (-13%) -
1974 CHW AL 21 13 42 39 15 3 0 277.3 263 90 63 142 2.92 3.63 (+19%) -
1975 CHW AL 20 14 43 41 12 1 0 303.7 321 105 77 142 3.11 3.71 (+16%) -
1976 PHI NL 12 14 38 35 7 1 0 227.7 241 88 32 83 3.48 3.51 (+1%) -60.0
1977 PHI NL 6 11 35 27 2 0 0 160.3 211 96 40 55 5.39 4.00 (-35%) -1908.6
1978 PHI NL 8 5 26 24 2 1 0 140.3 150 64 32 48 4.10 3.69 (-11%) 583.0
1979 PHI NL 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 8.3 9 4 5 2 4.32 — 0.0
1979 NYY AL 2 3 40 1 0 0 2 58.3 64 25 14 23 3.86 4.00 (+4%) -
1980 NYY AL 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 5.0 8 4 4 1 7.20 — -
1980 STL NL 8 7 49 14 6 1 4 129.7 140 55 33 36 3.82 3.84 (+1%) -
1981 STL NL 6 6 41 1 0 0 4 53.0 60 20 17 8 3.40 3.58 (+5%) -
1982 STL NL 5 3 62 2 0 0 2 75.0 79 34 23 35 4.08 3.86 (-6%) -
1983 STL NL 0 0 24 0 0 0 0 34.7 48 15 10 19 3.89 3.87 (-1%) -

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
1004 1251 117 232 44 5 16 106 5 63 367 0.185 0.227 0.267 0.494 -5187.0

Career AVG .185 vs. league average .254 across their career seasons — 27.1% below league average.

Career OBP .227 vs. league average .320 across their career seasons — 29.0% below league average.

Career SLG .267 vs. league average .378 across their career seasons — 29.3% below league average.

Career OPS 0.494 vs. league average 0.698 across their career seasons — 29.2% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1959 WSN AL 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 — — — — 0.0
1960 WSN AL 13 14 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.143 — — — — 0.0
1961 MIN AL 47 63 10 15 3 1 0 1 0 4 13 0.238 .258 (-8%) .328 (-10%) .399 (-20%) .727 (-16%) -176.2
1962 MIN AL 48 100 9 18 3 1 1 10 0 8 40 0.180 .257 (-30%) .326 (-27%) .393 (-34%) .719 (-31%) -549.5
1963 MIN AL 36 61 2 8 1 0 1 8 0 2 19 0.131 .246 (-47%) .308 (-40%) .371 (-47%) .680 (-44%) -428.7
1964 MIN AL 46 83 11 14 1 0 3 11 0 11 31 0.169 .250 (-33%) .312 (-16%) .377 (-23%) .690 (-20%) -268.2
1965 MIN AL 56 93 6 23 4 0 1 9 2 3 29 0.247 .245 (+1%) .310 (-15%) .371 (-13%) .682 (-14%) -248.0
1966 MIN AL 47 118 12 23 2 1 2 13 0 5 41 0.195 .248 (-22%) .309 (-26%) .376 (-26%) .685 (-26%) -519.1
1967 MIN AL 45 99 7 17 3 1 1 4 0 7 26 0.172 .242 (-29%) .306 (-26%) .357 (-29%) .663 (-28%) -450.0
1968 MIN AL 36 77 7 12 3 0 0 5 0 2 18 0.156 .236 (-34%) .298 (-41%) .340 (-43%) .638 (-42%) -497.9
1969 MIN AL 43 87 8 18 8 0 2 10 0 4 20 0.207 .248 (-17%) .320 (-23%) .369 (avg) .689 (-11%) -201.5
1970 MIN AL 56 76 17 15 1 0 1 8 0 6 20 0.197 .253 (-22%) .325 (-20%) .385 (-35%) .711 (-28%) -368.2
1971 MIN AL 54 93 6 15 3 0 0 5 2 2 16 0.161 .249 (-35%) .316 (-44%) .365 (-47%) .682 (-45%) -712.5
1972 MIN AL 24 45 3 13 3 0 2 4 0 1 16 0.289 — — — — 0.0
1973 MIN AL 31 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1973 CHW AL 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1974 CHW AL 42 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0
1975 CHW AL 43 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1976 PHI NL 42 79 4 14 3 1 1 8 0 2 24 0.177 .255 (-31%) .320 (-39%) .360 (-23%) .681 (-30%) -430.9
1977 PHI NL 36 53 4 10 3 0 0 2 0 2 12 0.189 .264 (-29%) .329 (-34%) .401 (-39%) .730 (-37%) -336.3
1978 PHI NL 26 48 4 7 1 0 0 4 0 0 15 0.146 — — — — 0.0
1979 PHI NL 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000 — — — — 0.0
1979 NYY AL 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1980 NYY AL 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1980 STL NL 49 35 4 5 1 0 1 2 1 2 13 0.143 — — — — 0.0
1981 STL NL 41 8 2 3 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0.375 — — — — 0.0
1982 STL NL 62 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 0.000 — — — — 0.0
1983 STL NL 24 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
9 9 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 6 0.222

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1982 WS SLN 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1976 NLCS PHI 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.500
1970 ALCS MIN 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
1965 WS MIN 3 6 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 5 0.167

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1 3 9 5 0 24.7 30 11 8 10 4.01

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1982 WS SLN 0 0 4 0 0 2.3 4 1 2 2 3.86
1976 NLCS PHI 0 0 1 1 0 6.0 2 2 2 1 3.00
1970 ALCS MIN 0 1 1 1 0 2.0 6 2 2 1 9.00
1965 WS MIN 1 2 3 3 0 14.3 18 6 2 6 3.77

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 898 625 262 744 56 65

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1959 WS1 P 3 2 0 1 0 0
1960 WS1 P 13 9 0 11 0 1
1961 MIN P 36 29 19 41 2 8
1962 MIN P 39 35 16 72 3 6
1963 MIN P 31 27 19 43 1 5
1964 MIN P 36 34 16 48 5 6
1965 MIN P 45 42 15 64 6 3
1966 MIN P 41 41 19 46 3 5
1967 MIN P 42 38 13 46 3 0
1968 MIN P 30 29 10 31 1 0
1969 MIN P 40 32 9 29 8 4
1970 MIN P 45 34 15 43 4 5
1971 MIN P 39 38 13 41 1 4
1972 MIN P 15 15 5 19 2 0
1973 MIN P 29 28 9 22 1 2
1973 CHA P 7 7 1 4 0 0
1974 CHA P 42 39 14 33 2 3
1975 CHA P 43 41 15 39 1 2
1976 PHI P 38 35 18 19 2 3
1977 PHI P 35 27 7 19 3 1
1978 PHI P 26 24 5 15 0 4
1979 PHI P 3 1 0 1 0 0
1979 NYA P 40 1 5 5 1 0
1980 NYA P 4 0 1 3 1 1
1980 SLN P 49 14 4 16 1 1
1981 SLN P 41 1 4 13 2 1
1982 SLN P 62 2 8 14 2 0
1983 SLN P 24 0 2 6 1 0

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 898
Designated Hitter 1

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1977 Gold Glove P
1976 Gold Glove P
1975 Gold Glove P
1975 Player of the Week Week of 1975-05-09
1975 TSN All-Star LHP
1974 Gold Glove P
1974 Player of the Week Week of 1974-09-20
1973 Gold Glove P
1972 Gold Glove P
1971 Gold Glove P
1970 Gold Glove P
1969 Gold Glove P
1968 Gold Glove P
1967 Gold Glove P
1966 Gold Glove P
1966 TSN All-Star P
1966 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1965 Gold Glove P
1964 Gold Glove P
1963 Gold Glove P
1962 Gold Glove P

College History

School Name City State Years Attended
Hope College Holland MI 1957

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1975 Cy Young Award AL 4th 7.0 120 0
1975 Most Valuable Player AL 28th 2.0 336 0
1967 Most Valuable Player AL 20th 4.0 280 0
1966 Most Valuable Player AL 5th 84.0 280 0