Jim Kaat Charity Autograph page

Note: A letter has been sent on April 25, 2008 to this athlete to provide their contact and charity information. Once we receive their response, their information will be entered below. This has been done to ensure that the information is correct and to protect the athlete's privacy in case they do not want their information to be posted on the Internet.

Contact Information (where autograph requests should be mailed to):

Contact Person and/or Name of Organization _____________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________________

Charity Information:

Name of charity or charities the donations go to __________________________________________

Signing Habits:

1) If you sign items for free, what are the maximum number of items you will sign for free? ___________

4) What can fans do to make it easier for you to sign their items? __________________________________________________________________

Donation Charges:

Item	Price	Item	Price
Cards		Flats up to 8x10
Flats up to 16x20		Baseballs/small footballs
Magazines		Flats larger than 16x20
Mini Helmets		Football/Basketball
Large Helmet		Bats
Jerseys		Inscriptions
Other _________		Other _________

Who should the check/money order be made out to: __________________________________________

Jim Kaat's Message to the Fans

Biography

James Lee "Jim" Kaat (born November 7, 1938 in Zeeland, Michigan), nicknamed "Kitty", is a former pitcher in Major League Baseball for the Washington Senators (I)/Minnesota Twins (1959-1973), Chicago White Sox (1973-1975), Philadelphia Phillies (1976-1979), New York Yankees (1979-1980), and St. Louis Cardinals (1980-1983). After a brief stint as a pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds, he then became a sportscaster for more than two decades before retiring in September 2006.

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Starting Pitcher

Born: November 7, 1938 (1938-11-07) (age 69)
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
August 2, 1959
for the Washington Senators
Final game
July 1, 1983
for the St. Louis Cardinals
Career statistics
Win-Loss Record 283-237
ERA 3.45
Strikeouts 2461
Teams
Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins (1959-1973)
Chicago White Sox (1973-1975)
Philadelphia Phillies (1976-1979)
New York Yankees (1979-1980)
St. Louis Cardinals (1980-1983)

Career highlights and awards
3 All Star appearances
16 Gold Gloves (1962-1977)
Led AL in Shutouts (5) in 1962
Led AL in Games Started in 1965 (42) and 1966 (41)
Led AL in Wins (25), Innings (304 ⅔), Complete Games (19), Strikeouts to Walks (3.73) and Batters Faced (1,227) in 1966
Led AL in Walks/9IP in 1966 (1.62) and 1973 (1.73)
Ranks 31st on MLB All-Time Wins List (283)
Ranks 20th on MLB All-Time Games Pitched (898)
Ranks 26th on MLB All-Time Innings List (4,530 ⅓)
Ranks 33rd on MLB All-Time Strikeouts List (2,461)
Ranks 16th on MLB All-Time Games Started List (625)
Ranks 21st on MLB All-Time Batters Faced List (19,021)

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Career
Kaat attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and pitched on the school team there. He was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent in 1957, and moved west with the team in 1961 when they became the Minnesota Twins.

Kaat was a member of the 1965 Twins team that won the American League pennant. He started three games in the 1965 World Series, matching up with future Hall-of-Famer Sandy Koufax on all three occasions, including a complete game victory in Game 2.

His best season was in 1966, when he won a league-leading 25 games. He finished fifth in the MVP voting and was named the American League Pitcher of the Year by The Sporting News. The National League's Sandy Koufax won the Cy Young Award by a unanimous vote; it was the last year in which only one award was given for both leagues. Kaat was primarily a starting pitcher until 1979, when he became a relief pitcher.

Over Kaat's 25 years in the majors (third all-time behind Nolan Ryan's 27 seasons and Tommy John's 26 campaigns), he was an All-Star three times (1962, 1966, 1975), and won the Gold Glove Award for defensive skill a record 16 consecutive times (1962-1977). With the Cardinals in 1982, Kaat earned his only World Series ring working in four games out of the bullpen. In 1983 he became the last major league player to have played in the 1950s and the last "original" (pre-Twins) Washington Senator player to retire.

Retirement
Upon retirement, he served a short stint with the Cincinnati Reds as the club's pitching coach. When Pete Rose took over in 1984 as the Reds' player/manager, he made good on a promise to Kaat, his former Philadelphia Phillies teammate, and hired the former hurler for his coaching staff. Kaat would coach part of the 1984 season and all of 1985, a year in which he guided Cincinnati rookie Tom Browning to a 20-9 record. "At least I can say I had a 20-game winner every year I coached", Kaat used to joke.

Broadcasting career
Kaat has also had a career as a broadcaster after retiring from baseball. From 1990-1993, Kaat served as an analyst for CBS television, teaming with Dick Stockton and then, Greg Gumbel in 1993; Kaat covered three World Series Trophy presentations for CBS (1990-1992). In 1995, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for "On Camera Achievement." Also in 1995, Kaat called the American League playoffs with Brent Musburger for ABC. In addition, he was on the team which won the "Outstanding Live Sports Coverage - Single Program" New York Emmy for covering Dwight Gooden's no-hitter and David Wells' perfect game. He also won an Emmy for on-air achievement in 2006.

He served two stints as an announcer for Yankees games on WPIX and the MSG Network/YES Network (1986 and 1994-2006), where his straight-shooting style was much in the mode of former Yankees broadcasters Tony Kubek and Bill White. In between, he spent six years (1988-1993) as an announcer for the Twins.

In an on-air broadcast on September 10, 2006 with booth partner Ken Singleton, Kaat acknowledged his plan to end his broadcasting career. His final appearance in the booth was to be a Yankee-Red Sox game on September 15, 2006 (Kaat was also set to throw out the first pitch). However, the game was postponed due to rain. Kaat later announced that he was going to record a special farewell message to the fans, but would not return for any additional broadcasts. However, the following day, Kaat did announce one full inning of the first game of Saturday September 16's double header on FOX along with Tim McCarver and Josh Lewin. During that FOX telecast he was able to say goodbye to the Yankee fans, an opportunity that the previous night's rainout had deprived him of doing on the YES Network.

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Source: Wikipedia.org at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Kaat

Jim Kaat

Contact Information (where autograph requests should be mailed to):

Charity Information:

Signing Habits:

Donation Charges:

Jim Kaat's Message to the Fans

Biography

Send mail to thedigitalauthor@aol.com with questions or comments about this web site. Last modified: 05/09/08

Send mail to thedigitalauthor@aol.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 05/09/08