Daily News | Hall of Fame inductee Jim Kaat discusses his Phillies years: He was no fan of Danny O.
It wasn’t enough, apparently, for the salary-dumping White Sox to trade Jim Kaat to the Phillies in December 1975. They also offered unsolicited advice for how to bring out the best in the veteran left-hander after back-to-back 20-win seasons in Chicago.
But Kaat pitched for a total of five organizations in a 25-year run in the majors. And in reflecting on his marathon career — he faced both Ted WilliamsMike Schmidt — he listed the 1976-78 Phillies as “maybe the best teams, ability-wise” for which he played. By adding Kaat and reliever Ron Reed to a pitching staff that had finished ninth among 12 National League teams in ERA, the Phillies believed they had the finishing touches of a pennant-contending roster.
Even so, Kaat had a 3.12 ERA through an Aug. 7, 1976, start against the St. Louis Cardinals. The next day, Ozark used him as a pinch runner in the ninth inning. He slid hard into third base and was diagnosed with a hairline fracture of his kneecap. He finished with a 4.53 ERA in his last 12 games. Six weeks into the 1979 season, the Phillies unloaded 40-year-old Kaat’s contract on the New York Yankees. He moved on to the Cardinals in 1980 and finally won a World Series under Herzog in 1982, two years after the Phillies won it and 17 years after Kaat won a pennant with Minnesota but lost to the Dodgers in the World Series.
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