Top 50 Players In Baltimore Sports History: Countdown 5-1
The moment you have all been waiting for: The top five players in Baltimore sports history will be revealed starting right about… Now!
5. Jim Palmer, SP, Baltimore Orioles
September 6, 2012; Baltimore, MD, USA; (From left to right)
Brooks Robinson, and
Earl Weaver, and
Eddie Murrayand Jim Palmer attend the Orioles Legend ceremony honoring
Cal Ripkenprior to a game against the New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
Although it’s not too far fetched to put Palmer as the number one Oriole of all-time, I don’t think many will agree with this decision. However, besides being the best pitcher in Orioles history, Palmer is one of the best pitchers in league history. He spent his whole 19-year career with the Orioles and is the only player to win all three World Series championships with the team (’66, ’70,’ 83).
Palmer won 186 games in the 1970s, more than any other pitcher in that decade. He also won 20 games in each of eight seasons and won three Cy Youngs and four Gold Gloves during the decade. His 268 career victories are currently an Orioles record. A six-time American League All-Star, he was also one of the rare pitchers who never allowed a grand slam in any major league contest.
Palmer appeared in the postseason eight times and was a vital member of three World Series Champions, six AL pennant winners and seven Eastern Division titleholders. He is the only pitcher in the history of the Fall Classic with a win in each of three decades. He was also the youngest to pitch a shutout in a World Series at age 20 in 1966. He was one of the starters on the last rotation to feature four 20-game winners in a single season in 1971. Since his retirement as an active player in 1984, Palmer has worked as a color commentator on telecasts of MLB games for ABC and ESPN and for the Orioles on Home Team Sports (HTS), Comcast SportsNet (CSN), Mid-Atlantic and the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), where he actively serves. Palmer was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.