VERMONT SPORTS HALL OF FAME

(Courtesy: UVM Ath. Comm./LA Angels of Anaheim-MLB)

Baseball/Ice Hockey

University of Vermont

Inducted 2015

One of the greatest all-around athletes in UVM history, Kirk McCaskill was an All-American in ice hockey and was All-East in baseball. He is one of a handful of athletes selected in both the Major League Baseball and National Hockey League Free Agent Drafts, taken by the Winnipeg Jets in the 4th round (64th overall) of the 1981 NHL Entry Draft and by the California Angels in the 4th round of the 1982 Major League Baseball June draft. He also played professionally in both sports, pitching in the big leagues for 12 seasons and skated for a year in the AHL, one step below the NHL.

His name can be found often in the UVM baseball and hockey record books. On the diamond for the Catamounts he ranked among the all-time leaders in several hitting and pitching records including a .356 career batting average and a .561 slugging percentage, while on the mound he ranked among the leaders in strikeouts and victories. 

On the ice, McCaskill was an All-American forward in 1981-82 and a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award as the nation's top player. He finished his collegiate career with 83 goals and 61 assists for 144 points, at the time 10th on UVM's all-time scoring list. He twice led the Catamounts in scoring and he is the last Vermont player to score 30 goals in a season, tallying 30 in 1981-82. 

He played for the AHL Sherbrooke Jets in 1983-84 and was on the parent club Winnipeg Jets playoff roster but did not dress that spring.

After twice named to the All-ECAC First Team at UVM in baseball, McCaskill was a fourth round draft choice of California Angels in 1982. He signed with them that summer and reached the big leagues in 1985. A mainstay in the Angels rotation, he won 106 games in the big leagues with 1,003 strikeouts. He went 17-10 in 1986 for the AL West Champs and in 1989 he went 15-10 with a 2.93 ERA, second in the AL. He finished up with the Chicago White Sox in 1992-96, pitching in the postseason again in 1993.

Currently the baseball coach at Torrey Pines High in California, McCaskill is a member of the UVM Athletic Hall of Fame and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.