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.