Raymond Frederick Katt (May 9, 1927 – October 19, 1999) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He played as a

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

during the 1950s, and later became the longtime and highly successful head baseball coach of

Texas Lutheran University Texas Lutheran University (TLU) is a private Evangelical Lutheran Church in America university in Seguin, Texas. History The university traces its roots back to 1891, to an academy of the first German Evangelical Lutheran Synod in Texas, in Br ...

. A lifelong resident of

New Braunfels, Texas New Braunfels ( ) is a city in Comal and Guadalupe counties in the U.S. state of Texas known for its German Texan heritage. It is the seat of Comal County. The city covers and had a population of 90,403 as of the 2020 Census. A suburb just nor ...

, Katt stood (183 cm) tall, weighed 200 pounds (91 kg), and threw and batted right-handed in his playing days. He attended

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

Playing career

Katt spent his entire Major League playing career with two teams, the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

, spending two separate terms with each club. Katt originally signed with the Giants and after two brief trials with them in 1952– 53, he became the club's semi-regular backstop during its final championship season in New York in

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

. Playing in 86 games, he split catching duties with veteran

Wes Westrum Wes or WES may refer to: * Westmorland, county in England, Chapman code __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Wes (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Wes Madiko (1964–2021), Cameroonian musi ...

, hitting .255 with nine

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

and 33

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

. That year, he set a Major League record with four

passed ball In baseball, a catcher is charged with a passed ball when he fails to hold or control a legally pitched ball that, with ordinary effort, should have been maintained under his control, and, as a result of this loss of control, the batter or a ru ...

s in one inning, catching

knuckleballer A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from laminar to turbulent flow. This chan ...

Hoyt Wilhelm James Hoyt Wilhelm (July 26, 1922 – August 23, 2002), nicknamed "Old Sarge", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the New York Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, California Angel ...

. The record was later tied by

Gino Petralli Eugene James Petralli (born September 25, 1959) is an American former professional baseball player. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers from to . Early life and education Petralli grad ...

of the Texas Rangers in 1987, catching knuckleballer

Charlie Hough Charles Oliver Hough (; born January 5, 1948) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) knuckleball pitcher and coach who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, and Florida Marlins from 1970 to 1994. Pla ...

, and by

Ryan Lavarnway Ryan Cole Lavarnway ( ריאן לווארנוויי; born August 7, 1987) is an American-Israeli professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Oriol ...

of the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

in 2013, catching knuckleballer Steve Wright in Wright's first big-league start. Westrum took over the catching during the

1954 World Series The 1954 World Series matched the National League champion New York Giants against the American League champion Cleveland Indians. The Giants swept the Series in four games to win their first championship since , defeating the heavily favored Ind ...

, won by the Giants in four consecutive games, and Katt did not appear. However, in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, he became the club's regular receiver, playing in 124 games and compiling a career-high 326

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

s, but his batting average plummeted to .215 and he spent the rest of his MLB career as a back-up. He was first traded to the Cardinals on June 14, 1956, in a nine-player trade that included notables

Alvin Dark Alvin Ralph Dark (January 7, 1922 – November 13, 2014), nicknamed "Blackie" and "The Swamp Fox", was an American professional baseball shortstop and manager. He played fourteen years in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston/Milwaukee Bra ...

and

Red Schoendienst Albert Fred "Red" Schoendienst (; February 2, 1923 – June 6, 2018) was an American professional baseball second baseman, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB), and is largely known for his coaching, managing, and playing years wi ...

, and batted a creditable .259 in part-time duty for the Redbirds through the end of the 1956 season. During the winter, though, St. Louis shipped him to the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

, who in turn peddled him back to the Giants on the eve of the 1957 regular season. Katt was a member of the final New York Giants club before it transferred to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, batting 165 times in 72 games in 1957. He was traded back to the Cardinals in April 1958, and closed out his active MLB career with them as a third-string catcher in 1958 and a playing coach in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. In all or parts of eight major league seasons (1952–59), Katt appeared in 417 games, and batted .232 with 32 home runs and 120 runs batted in for 1,071 at bats.

Coaching career

Katt was a bullpen coach for the Cardinals from 1959 through June 15, 1960, and first-base coach for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

in 1962. In between, he managed the Triple-A

Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams ...

for the final eight weeks of the 1961 season. He then returned to Texas — first as a high school baseball coach in New Braunfels, and then as head baseball coach at Texas Lutheran, where he served for 22 seasons (1971–92), the team compiling a record of 502–362–2. Katt-Isbel Field, home of the college's baseball team, is named in his honor. Katt died at age 72 from

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

in New Braunfels.

References

Obituary

Sources

Baseball Reference (MLB)

Baseball Reference (MiLB)

1951–52 Habana (Liga Profesional Cubana)

1953–54 Magallanes (Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional)

* Van Hyning, Thomas (1999). ''The Santurce Crabbers : Sixty Seasons of Puerto Rican Winter League Baseball''. McFarland & Company.
Texas Lutheran University Hall of Honor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Katt, Ray 1927 births 1999 deaths Baseball coaches from Texas Baseball players from Texas Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Cangrejeros de Santurce (baseball) players Cleveland Indians coaches College baseball coaches Deaths from cancer in Texas Deaths from lymphoma Habana players Jacksonville Jax players Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente catchers Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball first base coaches Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New York Giants (NL) players People from New Braunfels, Texas Portland Beavers managers Portland Beavers players Rochester Red Wings players Sportspeople from New Braunfels, Texas St. Cloud Rox players St. Louis Cardinals coaches St. Louis Cardinals players Sioux City Soos players Texas A&M Aggies baseball players Texas Lutheran Bulldogs baseball coaches Trenton Giants players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players American expatriate baseball players in Cuba

Playing career

Coaching career

See also

References

Sources