Baseball fans have been listening to Jim Kaat for the past thirty years, after watching him pitch for 25 years prior.
Hard to believe he was once a fresh-faced rookie way back in the Eisenhower administration.
Kaat’s long, distinguished career saw him star not only with his arm but also his glove and bat. In a move that is common now but was very unusual for 1973, Topps showed Kaat in an action shot at the plate.
In the second half of his career Kaat bounced quickly from team to team, and sometimes Topps had trouble keeping up, like in this poorly-airbrushed card from 1976, featuring Kaat in a rather creative Phillies hat.
New York-based Topps was able to get a nice photo of Kaat at Yankee Stadium after his May 1979 trade to the Bronx Bombers.
Kaat finished his career with the Cardinals. In this 1982 Fleer Sticker, a photo almost certainly taken by the legendary Bob Bartosz captures the contrasting personalities of Kaat and his former teammate Steve Carlton.
In the last card of his playing career, Kaat is shown being interviewed by ESPN. You can practically see him thinking, “Hey, his job seems pretty easy. I bet I could be good at that…”
Kaat has had a few cards during his playing days. The most recent one other than buybacks and limited-number autographs was in the 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bo Rosny is The Hall of Very Good’s resident baseball expert. You can read more from him at his website Baseball Cards Come to Life.
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The Hall of Very Good™ Class of 2015 is presented by Out of the Park Developments, the creators of the wildly popular baseball simulation game Out of the Park Baseball. Out of the Park Developments has made a generous donation to The Hall.
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