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

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) ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("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, who attempts to e ...

and former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) 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. In ice hockey, two o ...

player. He played in

for the

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

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) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

between 1985 and 1996, and played in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

for the

Sherbrooke Jets The Sherbrooke Jets were a minor professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL), based in Sherbrooke, Quebec. They were a farm team of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets. The team was coached by Rick Bowness in the ...

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 is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, Memphis,

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

, Phoenix,

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws v ...

and

Huntington Beach Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...

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

Paradise Valley, Arizona Paradise Valley is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb of Phoenix, the state's largest city. It is Arizona's wealthiest municipality. The town is known for its luxury golf courses, shopping, expensive real estate, an ...

. 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 research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in t ...

so that he could pursue both hockey and baseball at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...

. 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 operate ...

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 one thous ...

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 one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

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 numb ...

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 usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

. 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. George Kenneth Griffey Jr. (born November 21, 1969), nicknamed "Junior" and "the Kid", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent most of his career with the Seattle Marin ...

, who became the first father-son duo in MLB history to accomplish the feat.

Baseball awards and honors

In 2003, McCaskill was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, 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. 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 The Hobey Baker Award is an annual award given to the top National Collegiate Athletic Association men's ice hockey player. It has been awarded 41 times. It is named for Hall of Famer Hobey Baker, who played college hockey at Princeton University ...

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 team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

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

Kirk and his wife, Dana, have three sons: Riley, Reese, and Bennett, who all currently reside in

Cardiff by the Sea Cardiff-by-the-Sea, usually referred to as Cardiff, is a beach community in the incorporated city of Encinitas, California, Encinitas in San Diego County, California. The Pacific Ocean is to the west of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, the rest of incorporated ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. McCaskill holds both dual Canadian and U.S. citizenships. He became the head baseball coach at

The Bishop's School The Bishop's School is an independent college preparatory Episcopal day school located in La Jolla, California. Bishop's is known for its reputation in academics, arts, and athletics as well as its sizable endowment. The school offers courses for ...

La Jolla, California La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...

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