Back When There Was Baseball: Curt Kaufman

Back When There Was Baseball: Curt Kaufman

From Back When There Was Baseball by Rex Naylor

March 19, 2026 · 46 min

About this episode

Curt Kaufman shares his journey from college baseball to the Major Leagues and his experiences in the early 1980s.

Curt Kaufman joins us this week. Curt received a scholarship out of high school to play baseball at Iowa State University. After that he was signed as a non-drafted free agent by the New York Yankees on July 10, 1979. He worked his way through the minor leagues rather quickly and was named the International League Relief Pitcher of the Year in 1983 with 25 saves while playing for Columbus. Curt first appeared in the Majors with the Yankees in 1982 and was up for a short stint in 1983. He was traded to the California Angels in December of 1983 in exchange for Tim Foli. He played the 1984 season with the Angels and never made it back to the Big Leagues as elbow surgery curtailed his career. Join us as we go Back When There Was Baseball to the early 1980s with our guest Curt Kaufman.

People in this episode

Host: Rex Naylor

Guest: Curt Kaufman

Topics covered

  • baseball history
  • minor leagues
  • Yankees
  • Angels
  • 1980s baseball
  • Curt Kaufman

Keywords

  • Curt Kaufman
  • New York Yankees
  • California Angels
  • minor leagues
  • baseball history
  • 1980s baseball
  • Iowa State University
  • Tim Foli
  • elbow surgery

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Iowa State University, New York Yankees, California Angels

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