Baltimore Orioles top 10 all-time leaders in career strikeouts
By Ben Palmer
1. Jim Palmer – 2,212 career strikeouts
I mean, are you surprised? No, of course not.
Jim Palmer was one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the MLB, not just in Orioles history. The guy is a Hall of Famer for a reason, and that reason is because he was just so dominant for so long.
You name a stat, he dominates the leaderboards for the Orioles. Average game score? He’s got six of the top-10 seasons in average game score. ERA differential? He’s got six of the top-10 seasons in ERA differential in Orioles history (though the top ERA differential season is held by Hoyt Wilhelm in 1959). Career wins? He’s top in Orioles history. In fact, he won 186 MLB games in the 1970s, which is the most wins by any pitcher in a single decade.
He had ten seasons with a sub-3.00 ERA, six All-Star appearances, four Gold Gloves, three World Series wins, three Cy Young awards, lead the AL in wins three times, lead the AL in ERA twice, threw a no-hitter, and was the youngest pitcher to pitch a complete game shutout in a World Series at age 21. He was also on the most recent MLB starting rotation to feature four 20-game winners in 1971.
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So yea, that Jim Palmer guy is pretty good.