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‘Hub’ Kittle, 86; Baseball Coach Pitched in 6 Decades

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

“Hub” Kittle, 86, a major league baseball pitching coach who also pitched professionally in six decades, died Tuesday in Yakima, Wash., of complications from kidney failure and diabetes.

A native of Los Angeles, Hubert Kittle began his minor league baseball career in the mid-1930s with the Santa Catalina Angels of the Pacific Coast League. After serving in the Army during World War II, he continued a minor league baseball odyssey that included stints as pitcher, manager and general manager.

At age 63, he was believed to be one of the oldest players, if not the oldest, to pitch in a minor league game when he threw a perfect inning for the Class AAA Louisville Redbirds in August 1980.

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He was the pitching coach for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1981 to 1983, when the team won the World Series. He had held the same post with the Houston Astros from 1971 to 1975. Players he helped develop in those two assignments included pitchers Bruce Sutter, Todd Worrell and Joaquin Andujar.

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