I couldn’t be prouder when I learned of Kaat’s election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Being selected to the Hall through the Golden Days Era (1950-1969), the honor was well overdue for “Kitty”.
As a member of the Class of 2022, at age 84, to his legion of fans, and the game itself, baseball justice finally had been served for Kaat. Last playing in an MLB game in the 1983 season with the St. Louis Cardinals, the wait for official recognition as one of the game’s greatest of all-time took a while.
But once officially welcomed to sport’s most famous museum at 25 Main Street in New York’s Otsego County, the institution gained a wonderful son.
Kaat appears to take his role as an ambassador to the Hall of Fame and the game that he played at the highest level for 25 seasons, beginning in 1959 pitching for the Washington Senators, seriously. Five minutes of conversation with him, and you want additional minutes tacked onto the phone call or meeting on the baseball field.
Polite. Respectful. Unassuming. Gracious. Informative. Every trait you could hope for in a representative of a team, be it athletics or in a corporate setting, Kaat oozes professionalism.
This past May in Cooperstown when the Hall of Fame presented a tribute to the Negro Leagues All-Star Game, the preeminent event of Black baseball from 1933-1962, Kaat signed on as one of the coaches for the game at Doubleday Field. Along with 10 of his Hall of Famer brothers, Kaat wanted to demonstrate his appreciation and support for such a historically important chapter of baseball in America.
A couple of months after coaching the West squad for the East-West Classic, Kaat returns to Cooperstown for the museum’s annual induction weekend. On an early Friday morning, Kaat is among a handful of Hall of Famers to support his friend and fellow baseball immortal Ozzie Smith. Smith, for the past 21 years, has led the museum’s education program’s “Turn Two,” interactive meet-and-greet.
With glove in hand, Kaat strolls onto Doubleday Field. Wearing a Minnesota Twins jersey, the club that he pitched for 13 seasons and whose logo appears on the hat pictured on his hall of fame plaque, Kaat stops at the third base area. Immediately, the winner of 283 ball games and 16 Rawlings Gold Gloves, smiles as he greets members of the media.
When a reporter needs a quote, or better yet, an explanation on why something took place on the field, Kaat is the go-to guy. He loves baseball. Always has. He understands the demands of editors and deadlines that go along with chasing down a story. Best of all, Kaat is accommodating. He has told the story more than once to different groups of media of how his late father, also a huge baseball fan, drove in 1947 from their home in Michigan to Cooperstown for Lefty Grove’s induction. Kaat was raised right. The next time the three-time winner of 20 games in a season raises his voice, at least publicly, will be the first.
Being a gentleman is easy for Kaat. That’s who he is. Back in 2022 when his autobiography, Good As Gold: My Eight Decades in Baseball was released, the process to speak with the hall of famer about the book was too easy. A promised “brief” phone conversation by this reporter turned into a lengthy one. Kaat didn’t mind the “extra innings” to explain various parts of his career.
There has been participation in other events that the Hall of Fame sponsors that Kaat has made himself available to. Not long after being inducted as a member of MLB’s “elite” lineup, Kaat returned to Cooperstown to serve as the celebrity host for the Pathfinder Village- Baseball Hall of Fame Golf Invitational at the Leatherstocking Golf Course. Proceeds of the event benefited Pathfinder Village, a residential community dedicated to children and adults with Down syndrome and other disabilities.
I say without reservation that if Field of Dreams, the 1989 baseball film starring Kevin Costner, were remade, there would be a part for Kaat. Costner’s character Ray Kinsella could have easily wanted to play catch with Kaat, along with his dad, in the film’s final scene.
Few in sports, especially baseball, are universally respected, as Kaat. Yes. He was part of a World Series championship club in 1982. Yes. Three times Kaat was tagged an all-star. However, more than any official award won, being in Kaat’s presence just makes you feel like a better person. There’s no discount for politeness. Kaat is a throwback to a time when character mattered the same as physical ability.
Each trip to Cooperstown, with pen and pad in hand, I am as anxious to see Kaat, first, as a child getting to wear a new pair of shoes on the first day of school. It just feels so fresh, so welcoming. What a gem the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has in Kaat.
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