Great Baseball Nicknames-‘ Catfish’- Jim Hunter. Jim Hunter was a county boy from North Carolina. A talented young pitching prospect- he was signed in 1964 after graduating high school by the Kansas City A’s owner Charlie Finley and given a $50,000 bonus. Finley wanted his players and team to be colorful- and he thought Hunter needed a colorful nickname- so at the press conference for publicity purposes he introduced this country boy with the nickname ‘Catfish’-assuming that Hunter growing up had done a lot of fishing. Catfish Hunter would go on to become one of the best pitchers in the American League from the late 1960’s and 1970’s with the A’s and then the NY Yankees. He won 224 games during his 15 year career. The nickname stuck- he was always called Catfish Hunter. I will feature a few more of Charlie Finley’s nicknames as we go on in this feature.
Everytime I see Catfish Hunter, I think “Mudcat Grant” for whatever reason…
They were on the same staff for a while- along with ‘Blue Moon’ Odom!
He was a good one…also in Moustache Hall of Fame I bet.
My in-laws live in the North Carolina town that Jim Hunter grew up in. There’s a nice mural of him there.
from what i’ve always heard- a pretty laid back and humble guy… sad ending to his life with the ALS.
I didn’t see him until he pitched for the Yankees. He gave up a lot of homeruns but usually with none on base. He really took advantage of the mistake by the A’s for free agency.
Jim Palmer also gave up a lot of home runs in that era- but this is a fun fact you probably know Max- Palmer never gave up a grand slam…. Catfish was a big game pitcher!
No I did not know that about Palmer! That is an incredible stat considering about how many times he pitched.
never allowed back to back home runs either.
That is a great stat hans…that would be a feat in a couple of seasons much less his career.
One of the best thanks for the memories!
He was good and had a great nickname.