Epic baseball journey leads Kaat to Hall

This browser does not support the video element.

Jim Kaat, whose great baseball career and great baseball life has now been honored by the Golden Days Era Committee, was talking about that baseball life on Tuesday morning, and looking back, because I¡¯ve asked him to.

¡°I like to think I¡¯m a lot like our game,¡± Kaat said. ¡°I don¡¯t live in the past. I just honor it.¡±

? Complete Hall of Fame coverage

So I asked him to honor his own past and talk about facing Ted Williams when he was a kid.

Kaat, who is 83 now, laughed.

¡°I had him 0-2 the first time I faced him at Fenway,¡± Kaat said. ¡°Then I dropped down and threw him a curveball on the outside corner, one he promptly hit off the '379' sign. Johnny Schaive was playing second base for us that day. When Williams got to second he said to Johnny, ¡®Did you see how far that went? Because I didn¡¯t get all of it.¡¯¡±

This was 1959, late in the season.

¡°The next time up I got him 0-2 again,¡± Jim Kaat said. ¡°This time when I dropped down I threw him a fastball on the corner, because I still had a little bit of velocity in those days. Ted hit a one-hopper so vicious the ball nearly took Johnny¡¯s glove off.¡±

Kaat paused then.

¡°I faced Ted one last time, in ¡¯60,¡± he said. ¡°Popped him up.¡±

? Top 10 moments of Jim Kaat's career

Jim Kaat, out of Zeeland, Mich., and Hope College, who won 283 games in the big leagues and was still around to pitch in four World Series games at the age of 44 for the World Series champion Cardinals in 1982, officially makes it to Cooperstown at last, the way an old teammate of his, Tony Oliva, does right along with him.

I asked on Tuesday what his first connection to Cooperstown was. It prompted another story, of course.

¡°I was doing a Zoom appearance with Tony yesterday,¡± Kaat said, ¡°and I held up a picture of my dad from 1947. He¡¯s got a corncob pipe and a tie that¡¯s about five inches too short, but he¡¯s standing in front of the museum because he¡¯d traveled from Michigan to attend Lefty Grove¡¯s induction. Lefty was his hero, and became the first baseball hero I ever heard of. My dad made the trip because he wanted to see Lefty become part of the club.¡±

This browser does not support the video element.

The first time Jim Kaat went to Cooperstown himself was in 1956, when he¡¯d traveled to upstate New York to spend Thanksgiving with his college roommate, Al Kober (who called Jim Kaat on Monday and told him he¡¯d already booked three rooms in Utica, N.Y., for Jim¡¯s induction on July 24).

¡°Hey,¡± Kaat told Al Kober over the phone 65 years ago, ¡°I¡¯m in Cooperstown.¡±

Hey, Jim Kaat is in Cooperstown for real now.

¡°I¡¯m proof that you¡¯re never too old to be a dreamer,¡± he said.

Kaat first pitched in the big leagues in 1959, when the Twins were still the Washington Senators. He was still broadcasting a playoff game for the MLB Network this past October, and has been such a fine baseball broadcaster for such a long time, he might someday be worthy of the Ford C. Frick Award for baseball broadcasters.

¡°If you count the broadcasting,¡± Bob Costas, himself a Frick Award winner, ¡°Jim¡¯s an eight-decade guy.¡±

When I told Jim Kaat that Bob had said that, he laughed again and said, ¡°Did he start doing that degrees of separation thing he loves to do with me, where he takes me back to Babe Ruth or something?¡±

I told him that Costas absolutely did that.

¡°Jim broke in the year Nellie Fox was MVP,¡± Costas said. ¡°Fox played for Connie Mack and the Philadelphia Athletics when he broke in. Mack was born during the Civil War and managed the A¡¯s from 1901-50. With just two moves, from Fox to Mack, Jim Kaat is connected to the entire modern history of baseball.¡±

Kaat also faced Julio Franco in 1982, when Franco was a rookie, beginning a long career of his own that lasted until 2007, nearly a half-century after Jim Kaat had first arrived in the big leagues for the Senators.

Across the eight decades about which Bob Costas spoke of, Kaat has been one of the enduring gentleman baseball has ever produced, and not just because of immortals with whom he intersected along the way.

This browser does not support the video element.

He pitched three games against Sandy Koufax in the 1965 World Series. The Twins and the Dodgers had split the first two games and then the Dodgers beat Kaat, 2-0, in Game 7. At his best, he wasn¡¯t just good enough to go up against Koufax in the Series. Jim Kaat, in his prime, was just that good, period.

On Tuesday, he talked about another visit to Cooperstown, 10 years after his first, the summer after the Twins had lost to the Dodgers in the Series.

¡°They were still playing a Hall of Fame [exhibition] game in those days,¡± Kaat said. ¡°Us against the Cardinals. The Cards had called up this skinny left-hander to pitch against us. Kid¡¯s name was [Steve] Carlton. I believe he went seven innings that day.¡±

It will be different this time for Jim Kaat, this July in Cooperstown, 75 years after his father traveled to upstate to witness the induction of another left-hander, one named Grove. This time, Jim Kaat will be a member of the club.

More from MLB.com

seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com