Happy Birthday to the great Hall of Fame Starting Pitcher, Jim Palmer. In a career that lasted 19 seasons, Palmer pitched for one team, the Baltimore Orioles, where not only did Palmer establish himself as one of the Mount Rushmore greats, but he also found himself as one of the Immortals in terms of Starting Pitchers.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1965-67; 69-84):

268-152 W-L 2.86 ERA 3,948 IP 2,212K 1.180 WHIP

  • 6x All-Star
  • 4x Gold Glove
  • 3x Cy Young Award Winner (1973, 1975 & 1976)
  • 3x World Series Champion (1966, 1970 & 1983)

Palmer was a high-kicking pitcher with a smooth delivery, with a dominant fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup in his arsenal. Only nine days before he turned 21, Palmer had his big moment. In Game 2 of the 1966 World Series against Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers, he tossed a Complete-Game Shutout. After that, he’d have incredible success on the mound. While he wasn’t known for Striking out a ton of batters, he was known for shifting his fielders to his advantage, and he was known for being a great fielding pitcher, taking home four consecutive Gold Gloves from 1976-79. 

It wasn’t just the three Cy Youngs, which is incredible. Eight times, Palmer won 20 or more Games and led the league in Wins three times. Four times, he led the league in Innings Pitched. Twice, Palmer led the league in ERA. If you pull up his year-by-year stats, you’ll see a whole lot of “Black/Bold Face Type.” His lifetime 2.86 ERA is the third lowest of any pitcher during the Live Ball Era. Unlike today, Palmer pitched at a time when Starters were expected to log in a lot of innings. Eleven times, Palmer made 30 or more Starts and logged 200 or more innings in a season. As well as pitching Complete Games in the double digits nine times. Palmer is also the only pitcher in baseball history to do these three things.

  • Win a World Series Game in three different decades
  • Never give up a Grand Slam
  • Never give up a Back-to-Back Home Run

There are two types of great ballplayers: a Generational great, meaning you were the best, or one of the best of your era. Then there is a Franchise great, meaning you were the best or one of the best in your team’s franchise history. In regards to Jim Palmer, he was excellent in both. Palmer was generational when you look at his three Cy Youngs and all the black-type stats on the back of his baseball card. He’s also by far the greatest Pitcher in Orioles franchise history. If you are naming an Oriole Mount Rushmore, Palmer is there. The Orioles retired his #22 jersey the year after he retired. In 1990, he was voted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, which isn’t surprising. He also ranks #64 on The Sporting News list of 100 Greatest Ballplayers.

References:

  1. Jim Palmer via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Palmer#
  2. Jim Palmer Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/palmeji01.shtml