Jim Kaat

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Jim Kaat

2015 Veterans' Committee HOF Ballot: Jim Kaat

The Baseball Hall of Fame recently announced their 2015 Veterans' ballot. One player on the ballot is Jim Kaat.

The first table below presents Jim Kaat's career as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Jim Kaat Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1959	WS1	20	3	0.3	1.1	0.219	-0.4	-0.3	0.4	1.0	0.307	-0.3	-0.2
1960	WS1	21	13	1.7	3.7	0.315	-0.9	-0.7	2.2	3.2	0.404	-0.5	-0.2
1961	MIN	22	47	12.4	13.1	0.487	0.1	1.1	13.5	12.0	0.529	1.1	2.2
1962	MIN	23	48	17.8	16.2	0.524	1.4	2.9	18.1	15.9	0.533	1.7	3.2
1963	MIN	24	36	10.9	11.8	0.478	-0.2	0.9	10.3	12.4	0.456	-0.7	0.4
1964	MIN	25	46	16.6	13.7	0.549	2.1	3.6	16.0	14.3	0.528	1.4	3.0
1965	MIN	26	56	18.1	16.3	0.526	1.6	3.0	16.9	17.5	0.492	0.4	1.9
1966	MIN	27	47	21.0	15.9	0.569	3.3	4.8	19.1	17.8	0.518	1.4	2.9
1967	MIN	28	45	16.5	16.5	0.501	0.7	2.0	16.6	16.4	0.504	0.8	2.1
1968	MIN	29	36	13.3	12.7	0.513	0.8	1.8	12.8	13.2	0.493	0.3	1.3
1969	MIN	30	43	14.8	14.2	0.510	0.8	2.2	14.3	14.8	0.491	0.2	1.6
1970	MIN	31	55	14.3	13.3	0.519	1.0	2.2	13.3	14.3	0.483	0.0	1.2
1971	MIN	32	54	16.1	14.8	0.520	1.1	2.5	15.6	15.3	0.505	0.7	2.0
1972	MIN	33	24	7.3	4.7	0.606	1.5	2.1	6.8	5.2	0.570	1.1	1.6
+– 1973		34	38	12.7	12.9	0.496	-0.1	1.1	12.4	13.2	0.484	-0.4	0.8
	CHA		7	2.6	2.1	0.551	0.2	0.5	2.6	2.1	0.547	0.2	0.4
	MIN		31	10.1	10.8	0.483	-0.4	0.6	9.8	11.1	0.469	-0.6	0.3
1974	CHA	35	42	17.2	13.0	0.570	2.1	3.4	16.5	13.6	0.548	1.4	2.8
1975	CHA	36	43	15.0	13.6	0.526	0.7	2.1	15.1	13.4	0.530	0.8	2.2
1976	PHI	37	42	11.8	12.4	0.487	0.1	1.1	12.1	12.1	0.500	0.4	1.4
1977	PHI	38	36	8.7	10.9	0.442	-0.8	0.1	8.6	11.0	0.440	-0.9	0.0
1978	PHI	39	26	7.9	7.8	0.504	0.3	1.0	7.8	8.0	0.493	0.1	0.8
+– 1979		40	43	2.8	2.9	0.489	-0.1	0.3	2.9	2.8	0.506	0.0	0.4
	NYA		40	2.4	2.6	0.474	-0.1	0.2	2.6	2.4	0.516	0.1	0.4
	PHI		3	0.4	0.3	0.595	0.1	0.1	0.3	0.4	0.434	-0.0	-0.0
+– 1980		41	53	6.8	7.0	0.494	0.2	0.8	6.8	7.1	0.488	0.1	0.7
	NYA		4	0.1	0.5	0.196	-0.2	-0.1	0.2	0.4	0.368	-0.1	-0.0
	SLN		49	6.7	6.5	0.508	0.3	0.9	6.5	6.7	0.494	0.1	0.7
1981	SLN	42	41	3.1	2.7	0.537	0.3	0.6	2.9	2.9	0.499	0.1	0.4
1982	SLN	43	62	3.4	3.9	0.466	-0.2	0.2	3.3	3.9	0.461	-0.2	0.2
1983	SLN	44	24	0.6	0.9	0.414	-0.1	-0.0	0.6	0.9	0.422	-0.1	-0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,003	271.1	255.8	0.515	15.2	38.7	265.1	261.9	0.503	9.2	32.7
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			9	1.9	2.6	0.423		-0.1	2.0	2.6	0.433		-0.0
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			1,012	273.1	258.4	0.515		38.7	267.1	264.5	0.503		32.6

Jim Kaat had 283 traditional pitcher wins in his major-league career (and, not coincidentally, a very similar number of pWins). Three players whose careers overlapped with Kaat's by at least a decade also had career win totals in the 280's.

Fergie Jenkins won 284 games in his career. He won 20 or more games 6 consecutive times (and 7 times in 8 seasons), won the 1971 National League Cy Young award, finished in the top 3 in Cy Young voting three other times (1970, 1972, 1974), and was elected fairly easily to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his third year of eligibility.

In contrast, Jim Kaat won 20 or more games only 3 times, and spread them out across a 10-year period (1966, 1974, and 1975) and received Cy Young votes only one time, finishing 4th in 1975 (although he also finished 5th in MVP voting in 1965).

Despite this superficial difference, Jenkins and Kaat are each other's most similar player as measured by Player won-lost records.

The next table compares the career records of Jim Kaat and Fergie Jenkins, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Fergie Jenkins						Jim Kaat
1959						3	0.3	1.1	-0.4	-0.3
1960						13	1.7	3.7	-0.9	-0.7
1961						47	12.4	13.1	0.1	1.1
1962						48	17.8	16.2	1.4	2.9
1963						36	10.9	11.8	-0.2	0.9
1964						46	16.6	13.7	2.1	3.6
1965	7	0.7	0.8	-0.1	0.0	56	18.1	16.3	1.6	3.0
1966	61	9.5	10.1	0.0	1.1	47	21.0	15.9	3.3	4.8
1967	39	20.2	17.4	2.1	3.6	45	16.5	16.5	0.7	2.0
1968	40	21.2	17.7	2.4	3.9	36	13.3	12.7	0.8	1.8
1969	43	22.1	17.2	3.1	4.9	43	14.8	14.2	0.8	2.2
1970	40	21.7	16.7	3.2	4.9	55	14.3	13.3	1.0	2.2
1971	39	24.1	17.3	4.3	6.0	54	16.1	14.8	1.1	2.5
1972	36	18.6	16.1	1.9	3.4	24	7.3	4.7	1.5	2.1
1973	38	15.9	18.2	-0.7	0.7	38	12.7	12.9	-0.1	1.1
1974	41	22.8	14.3	4.3	5.9	42	17.2	13.0	2.1	3.4
1975	37	16.6	14.8	0.9	2.4	43	15.0	13.6	0.7	2.1
1976	30	11.2	11.3	-0.0	1.0	42	11.8	12.4	0.1	1.1
1977	28	10.3	10.1	0.1	1.1	36	8.7	10.9	-0.8	0.1
1978	34	14.8	10.3	2.3	3.4	26	7.9	7.8	0.3	1.0
1979	37	14.8	14.1	0.4	1.7	43	2.8	2.9	-0.1	0.3
1980	29	12.3	11.8	0.3	1.3	53	6.8	7.0	0.2	0.8
1981	19	6.6	7.0	-0.2	0.5	41	3.1	2.7	0.3	0.6
1982	34	14.0	14.5	0.1	1.3	62	3.4	3.9	-0.2	0.2
1983	33	9.0	11.0	-0.7	0.2	24	0.6	0.9	-0.1	-0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	665	286.7	250.8	23.6	47.3	1,003	271.1	255.8	15.2	38.7

Certainly, it's easy to see the similarity there. It's also fairly easy to conclude that Jenkins had the better career: more pWins, fewer pLosses, more career pWOPA and pWORL, three seasons (1969, 1971, and 1974) better than Kaat's best season (1966).

The other two players whose careers overlapped significantly with Kaat who won 280-some games were Tommy John (288 pitcher wins) and Bert Blyleven (287 pitcher wins). John - 3 20-win seasons, 2 2nd-place Cy Young finishes - and Blyleven - 1 20-win season, 2 3rd-place Cy Young finishes - seem somewhat closer to Kaat in terms of "narrative" than Jenkins.

Blyleven was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011 in his 14th year of eligibility. John has not been elected to the Hall of Fame, falling short most recently in the 2014 Veterans' Committee voting. The next table compares Kaat, John, and Blyleven.

Season	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Jim Kaat				Tommy John				Bert Blyleven
1959	0.3	1.1	-0.4	-0.3
1960	1.7	3.7	-0.9	-0.7
1961	12.4	13.1	0.1	1.1
1962	17.8	16.2	1.4	2.9
1963	10.9	11.8	-0.2	0.9	1.0	1.2	-0.1	0.0
1964	16.6	13.7	2.1	3.6	5.1	7.6	-1.1	-0.5
1965	18.1	16.3	1.6	3.0	12.7	10.1	1.7	2.7
1966	21.0	15.9	3.3	4.8	14.9	12.3	1.8	2.9
1967	16.5	16.5	0.7	2.0	11.5	11.7	0.2	1.2
1968	13.3	12.7	0.8	1.8	10.2	8.1	1.3	2.1
1969	14.8	14.2	0.8	2.2	13.0	13.0	0.4	1.6
1970	14.3	13.3	1.0	2.2	16.6	15.7	0.9	2.3	10.5	10.2	0.4	1.4
1971	16.1	14.8	1.1	2.5	13.3	15.2	-0.5	0.7	18.2	15.4	1.8	3.3
1972	7.3	4.7	1.5	2.1	10.7	9.3	1.0	1.8	18.0	17.0	1.1	2.6
1973	12.7	12.9	-0.1	1.1	13.0	10.1	1.9	2.8	18.8	13.6	2.6	4.1
1974	17.2	13.0	2.1	3.4	9.6	6.3	1.8	2.5	15.9	12.8	1.6	2.8
1975	15.0	13.6	0.7	2.1					15.1	11.8	1.6	2.9
1976	11.8	12.4	0.1	1.1	11.0	10.9	0.4	1.2	17.6	14.4	1.6	3.0
1977	8.7	10.9	-0.8	0.1	16.3	11.1	3.1	4.3	13.4	10.7	1.4	2.6
1978	7.9	7.8	0.3	1.0	12.5	11.0	1.1	2.1	15.4	13.4	1.5	2.7
1979	2.8	2.9	-0.1	0.3	15.7	10.7	2.5	3.7	12.9	12.4	0.6	1.6
1980	6.8	7.0	0.2	0.8	16.2	11.1	2.6	3.8	11.5	12.8	-0.4	0.6
1981	3.1	2.7	0.3	0.6	8.0	7.0	0.5	1.2	8.1	6.8	0.7	1.4
1982	3.4	3.9	-0.2	0.2	11.7	10.5	0.6	1.6	1.3	1.6	-0.1	0.0
1983	0.6	0.9	-0.1	-0.0	11.9	12.9	-0.5	0.7	8.9	8.5	0.2	1.0
1984					9.5	10.6	-0.6	0.3	14.3	9.2	2.5	3.5
1985					5.2	6.6	-0.7	-0.1	17.5	15.1	1.2	3.0
1986					4.4	3.3	0.5	0.9	17.6	16.8	0.4	2.0
1987					11.4	8.6	1.4	2.4	16.8	15.8	0.5	2.1
1988					9.5	8.3	0.6	1.4	11.5	14.4	-1.5	-0.3
1989					3.2	4.3	-0.6	-0.2	13.9	9.4	2.3	3.4
1990									6.9	8.3	-0.7	0.0
1991
1992									7.1	9.8	-1.3	-0.4
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	271.1	255.8	15.2	38.7	277.6	247.7	20.1	43.6	291.2	260.0	18.0	43.5

As with Jenkins, it's fairly easy to see the similarity between the three players, but also to see that Kaat is a fairly clear third among the three.

Still, being a little bit weaker candidate than two Hall-of-Famers (and a third player who I consider deserving), while not a very strong pro-HOF case, is not an actual argument against Kaat's induction. Jim Kaat strikes me as a pretty good borderline for career HOF candidates: if you had a better career than Jim Kaat, you probably belong in the Hall of Fame; if you had a worse career than Jim Kaat, you probably don't. As to where that leaves Jim Kaat himself: I could go either way.

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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