1971 Topps #245 Jim Kaat
About Jim Kaat
Minnesota leaned on Kaat for 260 1/3 innings in 1971, and he finished 13-14 with a 3.32 ERA. He completed 15 of his 38 starts, threw four shutouts and won another Gold Glove. Card #245, a second-series issue, pictures him with the Twins.
Jim Kaat pitched 25 seasons in the major leagues, 1959 through 1983, the longest career any pitcher had put together to that point. He spent the heart of it with the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins before finishing with the White Sox, Phillies, Yankees and Cardinals. A 6-foot-4 southpaw nicknamed Kitty, he worked so fast between pitches that he confounded umpires and annoyed the hitters standing in against him. He won 283 games, 190 of them for the Senators and Twins, more than anyone in the Minnesota era of the franchise, and put together three 20-win seasons, with a record eight-year gap between the first two. He was a three-time All-Star and the most decorated fielding pitcher of his era, taking 16 straight Gold Gloves, still the longest run at the position, though Greg Maddux later won more in total. He earned his only World Series ring working out of the bullpen for the 1982 Cardinals. He finished with a 3.45 ERA and 2,461 strikeouts in 898 appearances, then spent more than two decades as an Emmy-winning broadcaster. The Golden Days Era Committee elected him to the Hall of Fame in December 2021, and he was inducted in 2022.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · National Baseball Hall of Fame · Baseball Almanac · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 472 | 0 | 7 | 135 | 149 | 82 | 50 | 49 | 0 |
| SGC | 98 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 18 | 26 | 20 | 15 | 5 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
Team card: #522 Minnesota Twins
More Minnesota Twins cards:
- #7 Jim Holt
- #26 Bert Blyleven
- #61 1970 American League Batting Leaders
- #65 1970 American League Home Run Leaders
- #69 1970 American League Pitching Leaders
- #74 Twins 1971 Rookie Stars
- #95 Luis Tiant
- #127 Danny Thompson
- #141 Frank Quilici
- #165 Cesar Tovar
- #189 George Mitterwald
- #210 Rod Carew
- #271 Bill Zepp
- #290 Tony Oliva
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1971 Topps #245 card?
It is card #245 of the 752-card 1971 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Kaat of the Minnesota Twins.
How many cards are in the 1971 Topps Baseball set?
752 cards, tracked as 761 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 752 with none skipped, issued in six print series (132/131/130/130/120/109 cards), the sixth (#644-752) the high numbers; seven cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately - the #42, #265 and #306 photo pairs and the #123, #206, #369 and #619 checklists, #369 and #619 in three printings each.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA (its price guide, master set registry and set article), BaseballCardPedia, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-25.