Top 106 Baseball Players: #104 - Jim Palmer

Jim Palmer

For the Baltimore Orioles, the Jim Palmer era represents the glory days. Palmer is the only player who appeared in all 6 World Series in Orioles history, and he was one of the best pitchers in baseball for a full decade, consistently finishing near the top of the Cy Young voting.

Other than his high leg kick, not much about Palmer's game was flashy. He wasn't a strikeout master, but he was a workhorse and extremely consistent, winning at least 20 games 8 times in 9 years during the 1970's. He led the majors in innings pitched 4 times, starts twice, batters faced twice, and complete games once, and his career spanned 19 seasons with Baltimore.

He also had a reputation for not giving up big plays, proven by the fact that he never gave up a Grand Slam or back-to-back home runs in his entire career. He was the league leader in ERA twice, and still has the third-lowest career ERA of any starting pitcher since 1920. Those traits were a large part of the reason that his teams consistently made the playoffs and reached the World Series.

In his first World Series appearance in 1966, he pitched a complete game shutout against the Dodgers, becoming the youngest pitcher ever to do that, and he still holds that record. The feat is even more amazing considering the fact that the opposing pitcher that day was Sandy Koufax, and that the Dodgers were huge favorites to win the Series. The Orioles ended up pitching two more shutouts in a row to sweep LA and take their first-ever title.

In the 1970's, he pitched more innings and won more games than any other AL pitcher. He also won 3 Cy Young Awards and finished in the top 5 three other times, while also picking up 4 Gold Gloves and another World Series ring in 1970. Palmer was the gold standard for pitching in the decade.

By 1983, he was 37 years old and no longer a regular in the rotation, but he was brought in in relief during Game 3 of the World Series, and threw 2 shutout innings to clinch the victory and earn the win, making him the only pitcher in history to win a World Series game in 3 different decades. He retired midway through the following season, and the Orioles have not returned to the World Series since.

Palmer was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1980 in his first year of eligibility, with 92.6% of voters including him on their ballot. He may not have been a huge star, but much like David Cone below him, he was a very good pitcher for a very long time, he helped his team win when it mattered, and he was very consistent and reliable throughout his career.