James Lee Kaat
Minnesota Twins
Pitcher
Born: November 7, 1938, Zeeland, MI
Signed: Signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent, June 17, 1957
Major League Teams: Washington Senators 1959-60; Minnesota Twins 1961-73; Chicago White Sox 1973-75; Philadelphia Phillies 1976-79; New York Yankees 1979-80; St. Louis Cardinals 1980-83
World Series Appearances: Minnesota Twins 1965; St. Louis Cardinals 1982
Hall of Fame Induction: 2022
Jim Kaat pitched in parts of four different decades in a major league career that spanned 25 seasons. His best seasons came with the Twins in the mid to late 1960s, and then with the White Sox in the mid 1970s. He won at least 14 games in 11 seasons, topping the 20-win mark in 1966, 1974 and 1975. He led the league in wins in 1966 with 25, complete games with 19 and innings pitched with 304 2/3. He was named to three All-Star teams in 1962, 1966 and 1975.
An excellent fielder, Kaat won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves at pitcher, still the record and tied with Brooks Robinson (#550) for consecutive Gold Gloves won. Greg Maddux broke his total Gold Glove record for pitchers by winning 18 times. Kaat was also an excellent batter, hitting .185 with 16 home runs. He hit his final home runs with the Cardinals in 1980 at 41 years old. Kaat appeared in the 1965 World Series with the Twins and the 1982 World Series with the Cardinals, earning his first ring when the Cardinals defeated the Brewers. He appeared in four games in relief in that World Series, allowing a run over 2 1/3 innings.
Upon his retirement, Kaat's 25 seasons were the most by any pitcher in major league history. He has since been passed by both Nolan Ryan (#533) with 27 seasons and Tommy John (#465) with 26. He compiled a lifetime record of 283-237 with a 3.45 ERA and 2,461 strikeouts which is currently 45th on the all-time list. He retired in 1983 as the last player to have appeared in a major league game in the 1950s. Kaat briefly served as Pete Rose's (#120) pitching coach in 1984 and 1985 with the Reds. Beginning in 1986 through the late 2000s, Kaat served as a respected broadcaster for the Yankees, Twins, NBC Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports and Yankees again, winning 7 Emmy Awards for excellence in sports broadcasting. Kaat was elected into the Hall of Fame in December 2021 by the Golden Days Era Committee.
Hall of Fame Induction: 2022
Jim Kaat pitched in parts of four different decades in a major league career that spanned 25 seasons. His best seasons came with the Twins in the mid to late 1960s, and then with the White Sox in the mid 1970s. He won at least 14 games in 11 seasons, topping the 20-win mark in 1966, 1974 and 1975. He led the league in wins in 1966 with 25, complete games with 19 and innings pitched with 304 2/3. He was named to three All-Star teams in 1962, 1966 and 1975.
An excellent fielder, Kaat won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves at pitcher, still the record and tied with Brooks Robinson (#550) for consecutive Gold Gloves won. Greg Maddux broke his total Gold Glove record for pitchers by winning 18 times. Kaat was also an excellent batter, hitting .185 with 16 home runs. He hit his final home runs with the Cardinals in 1980 at 41 years old. Kaat appeared in the 1965 World Series with the Twins and the 1982 World Series with the Cardinals, earning his first ring when the Cardinals defeated the Brewers. He appeared in four games in relief in that World Series, allowing a run over 2 1/3 innings.
Upon his retirement, Kaat's 25 seasons were the most by any pitcher in major league history. He has since been passed by both Nolan Ryan (#533) with 27 seasons and Tommy John (#465) with 26. He compiled a lifetime record of 283-237 with a 3.45 ERA and 2,461 strikeouts which is currently 45th on the all-time list. He retired in 1983 as the last player to have appeared in a major league game in the 1950s. Kaat briefly served as Pete Rose's (#120) pitching coach in 1984 and 1985 with the Reds. Beginning in 1986 through the late 2000s, Kaat served as a respected broadcaster for the Yankees, Twins, NBC Sports, ESPN, CBS Sports and Yankees again, winning 7 Emmy Awards for excellence in sports broadcasting. Kaat was elected into the Hall of Fame in December 2021 by the Golden Days Era Committee.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #644
I made stops at six tables at the show, all yielding needed cards for our 1969 Topps set, and I left the show with just 16 more cards to go for my version of a complete set. I'm not even sure how best to describe the fifth table I visited. I typically steer clear of tables that look incredibly disorganized or tables that look as if the dealer put minimal effort into his/her display. This table was both. But the crudely designed, hand-made sign advertising "Entire Table is 50% Off" made me stop and at least look at what was in the 1969 Topps hodgepodge of cards. And I'm glad I did. It took me a solid 20-25 minutes to go through the cards that were loosely in order, but I found seven cards I needed with either mislabeled prices (?) or prices that hadn't been updated since the 1980s. I paid $1 for this Kaat card, the fourth of seven cards purchased from what I'm calling the Crazy Boxes table, and I wished I had made this table my first stop.
The Card / Twins Team Set / Accuracy Index +1
1969 Season
From Kaat's SABR biography, written by Patrick Lethert:
Phillies Career
On December 10, 1975, the White Sox traded Kaat to the Phillies with Mike Buskey for Alan Bannister, Dick Ruthven and Roy Thomas. He was a key part of the Phillies pitching rotations in 1976, 1977 and 1978 with the Phillies reaching the NLCS in each of those years. Unfortunately, the team was easily handled by the Reds in 1976 and the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978. His only postseason appearance with the club came in 1976 when he started Game 3 against the Reds. Kaat pitched well in that game, allowing two runs on two hits over six innings of work and he departed with the Phillies holding a 3-0 lead. Reliever Ron Reed (#177) couldn't hold that lead and the Reds would eventually win.
In parts of four seasons with the Phillies, Kaat was 27-30 with a 4.23 ERA over 102 games and 87 starts. On May 11, 1979, without a readily available roster spot for him, the Phillies sold Kaat to the Yankees.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #136
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (24): 1960-83
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2025 Topps Allen & Ginter #338
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 313 the Beckett online database as of 2/28/26.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
September 21, 2025 from The Philly Show (Crazy Boxes)
On Sunday morning, September 21st, I made the hour-long drive to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania for the latest installment of the Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show, known to its friends as The Philly Show. The show has a legitimate official sponsor (eBay) and the advertisement for the event notes the show is in its 50th year. I hadn't attended a baseball card show since the last Philly Show in December, and I was flying solo to this one as our oldest son is in his first month of college at Villanova. I posted a full summary of the show over at The Phillies Room.
The Card / Twins Team Set / Accuracy Index +1
Similar to the Carl Yastrzemski (#130) card recently posted, this Kaat card uses the same photo as his 1968 Topps card, just more closely cropped. There's some sort of beef advertisement over Kaat's shoulder on what I'm assuming is a spring training ballpark outfield wall. On the back, the cartoon highlights his Game 2 win the 1965 World Series and the write-up mentions his seventh Gold Glove win, not yet half-way to the 16 total Gold Glove wins he'd have for his career.
Accuracy Index: Kaat's card loses points for the duplicate photo.
1969 Season
From Kaat's SABR biography, written by Patrick Lethert:
Twins ownership attempted to inject some fire into the talented team in 1969 by promoting Billy Martin (#547) to manager. Martin, Minnesota’s third-base coach from 1965 to 1968, had most notably been a member of the 1950s Yankee dynasty and was well known as someone who liked to have fun off the field and who had a temper . . .
The 1969 Twins were an offensive powerhouse, leading the league in runs scored. [Harmon] Killebrew (#375) was named the AL’s Most Valuable Player as he enjoyed the finest season of his Hall of Fame career. [Tony] Oliva (#600), first baseman Rich Reese (#56), and second baseman Rod Carew (#510) all had outstanding seasons and hit over .300. Jim Perry (#146) and Dave Boswell (#459) each won 20 games and bullpen ace Ron Perranoski (#77) was outstanding. For his part, Kaat was solid, finishing 14-13/3.49 in 242 innings. He completed 10 games and was clearly the team’s third best starter.
On December 10, 1975, the White Sox traded Kaat to the Phillies with Mike Buskey for Alan Bannister, Dick Ruthven and Roy Thomas. He was a key part of the Phillies pitching rotations in 1976, 1977 and 1978 with the Phillies reaching the NLCS in each of those years. Unfortunately, the team was easily handled by the Reds in 1976 and the Dodgers in 1977 and 1978. His only postseason appearance with the club came in 1976 when he started Game 3 against the Reds. Kaat pitched well in that game, allowing two runs on two hits over six innings of work and he departed with the Phillies holding a 3-0 lead. Reliever Ron Reed (#177) couldn't hold that lead and the Reds would eventually win.
In parts of four seasons with the Phillies, Kaat was 27-30 with a 4.23 ERA over 102 games and 87 starts. On May 11, 1979, without a readily available roster spot for him, the Phillies sold Kaat to the Yankees.
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First Mainstream Card: 1960 Topps #136
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (24): 1960-83
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2025 Topps Allen & Ginter #338
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 313 the Beckett online database as of 2/28/26.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia