James Lee Kaat (; born November 7, 1938) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins (–), Chicago White Sox (–), Philadelphia Phillies (–), New York Yankees (–), and St. Louis Cardinals (–). His 25-year playing career spanned four decades. Kaat was an All-Star for three seasons and a Gold Glove winner for 16 seasons. He was the American League (AL) leader in shutouts (5) in 1962, and the AL leader in wins (25) and complete games (19) in 1966. In addition to his 283 career wins, he has three 20-win seasons. Kaat won 190 games with the Senators/Twins (winning all but one with the latter), second most in club history and most since the team moved to Minnesota; he also has the most Gold Glove Awards of any Twin with 12. After a brief stint as a pitching coach for the Cincinnati Reds, he went on to become a sportscaster and for the next 22 years called games for the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins. Following a brief retirement in 2006, Jim Kaat was back in the broadcast booth calling Pool D for the 2009 World Baseball Classic in Puerto Rico, called games for NESN in 2009, and worked for the MLB Network from its inception in 2009 until August 2022. Kaat was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Golden Days Era Committee in 2021 and enshrined in 2022. Biography Early life Kaat was the youngest of four children born to John and Nancy (Bosma) Kaat. He attended the schools of Zeeland, Michigan and is a 1956 graduate of Zeeland High School. During his high school years, he excelled at basketball and baseball. Baseball career Kaat attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and pitched for the school's Flying Dutchmen baseball team, before being signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent in 1957. Kaat spent all of 1957 and 1958 in the minor leagues before breaking into the majors in 1959. After pitching in 16 games spread out over the next two seasons, Kaat became a permanent member of the pitching staff when the team moved west in 1961 to become the Minnesota Twins. On July 24, 1963 Kaat threw a complete-game shutout and hit a home run for a