2 of Jim Kaat's best seasons were with the White Sox?

Jim Kaat

When we think of Jim Kaat, we think of him as being a part of the Minnesota Twins, right? The former left-handed pitcher was in the majors for 25 years, and he pitched 15 of those seasons with the Minnesota organization.

In fact, the Twins were the Washington Senators when Kaat first broke into the bigs in 1959. The Senators became the Twins in 1961, and Kaat pitched in Minnesota until 1973. He collected 190 of his 283 career wins with Washington/Minnesota.

Kaat was elected to the Hall of Fame on Sunday by vote of the Golden Days committee. After these votes, sometimes it's fun to go back and examine the careers these players had.

Looking at Kaat's life in baseball, I knew he had pitched for the White Sox during the 1970s, but I had no idea he was so good during his relatively brief tenure on the South Side:

1974: 21-13, 2.92 ERA, 42 games, 39 starts, 277.1 innings and a Gold Glove award

1975: 20-14, 3.11 ERA, 43 games, 41 starts, 321 innings (!), an All-Star appearance and a fourth-place finish in the Cy Young voting

Kaat was 35 and 36 years old during those years. He moved on to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1976, but those two years with the Sox might have been the best of his career. 

You learn something new every day.

White Sox great Minnie Minoso elected to Hall of Fame

Minnie Minoso

It's never too late to do the right thing. White Sox great Minnie Minoso should have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame years ago. He should have been able to enjoy the honor while he was still alive.

Minoso, who died in 2015 at age 89, at long last was voted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday by the Golden Days committee, along with Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat and Gil Hodges. Buck O'Neil and Bud Fowler also were elected to the Hall by vote of the Early Days committee.

Minoso was a two-time All-Star in the Negro Leagues before he became the first Black player to play for the White Sox in 1951. He was the first Black Cuban to play in the majors, and it's not uncommon for Spanish-speaking players -- past and present -- to refer to Minoso as the "Latino Jackie Robinson."

I don't think Minoso has ever received proper credit for being the trailblazing player that he was. And given that it took him this long to be elected to the Hall, it's probably true that, up until this point, he has never received proper credit for being a great baseball player. Minoso was without a doubt one of the best players in the American League during the 1950s.

Minoso made the All-Star team seven times between 1951 and 1960. He batted .302 or higher eight times, led the American League in stolen bases three times and won three Gold Gloves. He finished in the top-five of MVP balloting on four occasions, and was second in the Rookie of the Year vote in 1951.

It's worth noting that Minoso led the league in being hit by pitches in 10 of the first 11 seasons he played. Was that a product of the racial tension of the times? Quite possibly.

In 1951, his first season in the American League, Minoso finished fourth in the MVP voting, but somehow didn't win Rookie of the Year. The man who won Rookie of the Year, New York Yankees infielder Gil McDougald, was ninth in the MVP voting. That's an anomaly I've always found bizarre. Why would Minoso finish ahead of McDougald for MVP, but behind him for Rookie of the Year?

I would also argue that Minoso should have been American League MVP in 1954, when he again finished fourth in the voting. Look at the numbers, and good luck convincing me I'm wrong.

Once Minoso's playing career was over, he became known as "Mr. White Sox." He was a fixture with the organization; a great ambassador for the team, the city of Chicago and baseball as a whole; always willing to sign autographs and tell stories for the fans.

Everyone associated with the Sox is thrilled to see No. 9 finally get the respect he is due with induction into the Hall of Fame.

Hopefully, that day will also come for Dick Allen, who won the AL MVP as a member of the Sox in 1972. When Allen died, I wrote that he deserved induction into the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, he fell one vote short in this balloting. A player needed 12 votes out of 16, or 75%, to be elected. Allen got 11 votes. Unfortunate.