Newly minted Baseball Hall of Fame member Jim Kaat has called his last game from the broadcast booth.
Kaat, 83, announced his retirement ahead of the MLB Network broadcast of the game between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees on Thursday night. He called the contest with Bob Costas and Jon Paul Morosi.
Kaat started his broadcast career nearly 40 years ago and has been heard on both national and regional networks, including NBC, ESPN and MLB Network.
He pitched in the major leagues from 1959-83 in an era where pitch counts and analytics were unheard of. He started 625 games (898 total appearances) and threw 180 complete games, and he started 40 games a season more than three times in his career.
And given that background, and his age, he said it’s time for someone else who can relate to the major leagues of today to analyze the games.
“I walk into a clubhouse right now, and basically I’m a stranger,” he said of his relationship with today’s players. “I’m going to be 84. I don’t blame them. They don’t even know I played.”
He continued: “It’s time for a younger guy to take that seat. I’ve enjoyed it. We’ve done some great games. As we got into this year I started having the feeling, that, you know what? It’s time to ride off and for some young guy who has played and who knows the players, knows how the analytics have either helped him or hurt him, to take that chair and share with the viewers.”
In his career, Kaat won seven sports Emmy Awards.
Kaat was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., last month.
–Field Level Media