Kirk Edward McCaskill (born April 9, 1961) is a Canadian-American former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

and former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player. He played in

for the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

between 1985 and 1996, and played in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

for the Sherbrooke Jets during the 1983–84 season.

Early life

McCaskill was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, where his father Ted McCaskill was playing for the local senior league hockey team at that time. As a child, McCaskill moved several times due to his father's professional hockey career, spending time in

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, Memphis,

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Phoenix,

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

and

Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County, California, United States. The city was originally called Pacific City, but it was changed in 1903 to be named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 as o ...

. McCaskill's father retired from hockey in 1975 after which his family settled in

Paradise Valley, Arizona Paradise Valley is a desert and mountain town in Arizona east of state capital Phoenix. The town is known for its golf courses, spectacular mountain views, numerous upscale resorts and restaurants, natural beauty with desert landscaping and gor ...

. McCaskill attended Edison High School in Huntington Beach his freshman year before being accepted at Trinity-Pawling School in Pawling, New York. He moved to the boarding school mainly to pursue his hockey career, but continued to play baseball while there. During his senior year, McCaskill had an 8–0 record with an 0.97 ERA and 97 strikeouts, scored 26 goals and 22 assists in 17 hockey games, and was the varsity soccer team's leading goal-scorer. He turned down a baseball scholarship to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

so that he could pursue both hockey and baseball at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

. In 1980, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.

Baseball career highlights

All- ECAC in baseball and hockey as a collegiate student-athlete, McCaskill was drafted in the fourth round of the 1982 amateur draft by the

(88th overall), from the

, and would be the first baseball player from UVM to reach the major leagues since Jack Lamabe in 1962. He debuted in 1985, and his break-out season was 1986 with the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

West champion

. He compiled a win–loss record of 17–10, with a 3.36

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

and 202

strikeouts In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

. He also totaled ten complete games on the season and would go on to have six seasons of ten or more wins, throw two one-hitters, and rank in the

top ten in shutouts and

three times each during his career. On September 14, 1990, McCaskill surrendered back-to-back home runs to Ken Griffey Sr. and Ken Griffey Jr., who became the first father-son duo in MLB history to accomplish the feat.

Baseball awards and honors

McCaskill was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2003, along with

Joe Carter Joseph Chris Carter (born March 7, 1960) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays ...

, Richard Bélec, and the

Asahi Asahi (Japanese 朝日, 旭, or あさひ 'morning sun') may refer to: Places in Japan Cities * Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards * Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'') * Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'') Towns * Asahi, Aichi ...

. In response to the news of induction, McCaskill was quoted as saying, "I am stunned by this wonderful news. I can't wait to tell my family and my parents. I am very proud of my Canadian heritage, and this is going to be an honor of a lifetime."

Hockey career highlights

McCaskill played center and right wing for the University of Vermont from 1979 to 1983, and in 1982 was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award and was named to that season's NCAA East All-America First Team and the ECAC All-Star First Team. He was the team captain during the 1982–83 season, and won the Cunningham Award as the Most Valuable Player on the Catamounts. McCaskill was drafted in the fourth round (64th overall) by the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The Jets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The te ...

in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft, playing only one season of professional hockey for the Sherbrooke Jets, a Jets farm team, and dressed for one game with the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL but did not play in the game. During the 1983–84 season, he scored 10 goals and added 12 assists for 22 points. He retired from professional hockey after that one season to focus solely on his professional baseball career. For his achievements in hockey and baseball, McCaskill was inducted into the Vermont Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Hockey awards and honors

Personal

McCaskill and his wife, Dana, have three sons, Riley, Reese, and Bennett, and currently reside in Cardiff by the Sea,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. McCaskill holds both dual Canadian and U.S. citizenships. He became the head baseball coach at The Bishop's School in

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...

, in November 2020, having previously been the head coach at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego.Maffei, John
"Kirk McCaskill returns to coaching, takes over at Bishop's".
''The San Diego Union-Tribune''. Nov. 17, 2020.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCaskill, Kirk 1961 births Baseball people from Ontario California Angels players Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Canadian ice hockey forwards Chicago White Sox players Major League Baseball players from Canada Ice hockey people from Ontario Major League Baseball pitchers Sherbrooke Jets players Vermont Catamounts baseball players Vermont Catamounts men's ice hockey players People from Kapuskasing Salem Angels players Edmonton Trappers players South Bend White Sox players Redwood Pioneers players Living people Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) draft picks Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Expatriate baseball players in Italy Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Nashua Angels players Palm Springs Angels players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen