Baltimore Orioles History: Top 5 Orioles All-Time Leaders in Wins
1. Jim Palmer, 268 Wins
Jim Palmer was not only the greatest Baltimore Orioles pitcher ever, but also one of the best ever in MLB history. All 19 seasons spent in Baltimore, Palmer compiled 268 wins with a lifetime 2.86 ERA.
Palmer’s career featured three Cy Young Awards, eight 20-win seasons, six All-Star seasons, four gold gloves, two-time ERA champion, and best of all an induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.
Per BaseballHall.org, Palmer is the only pitcher to win World Series games in three separate decades, first in 1966, 1970, 1971 and 1983 World Series.
Starting in 1966, Cakes became a key member of the Orioles starting rotation and wrapped up the year with 30 starts going 15-10 with a 3.46 ERA. However, injuries forced Palmer to nine starts in two years until 1969 when he returned to make 23 starts with 16 wins.
The next three seasons, Palmer would help the Orioles make three straight trips to the World Series, winning it all in 1970. Palmer collected 83 wins in the span of several World Series appearances.
After suffering another setback season in 1974 when he went 7-12 in 26 starts, Palmer came storming back again to pitch the best baseball of his legendary career. The Hall of Famer strung up another span of 20-win seasons from 1975-1978. Palmer earned Cy Young award No. 2 and No. 3 in back-to-back seasons and almost won the award for the third straight season in 1977.
| Year | W | L | ERA | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | SO | BF | Awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 23 | 11 | 2.09 | 38 | 25 | 10 | 323.0 | 253 | 87 | 75 | 20 | 193 | 1268 | AS, CYA-1, MVP-6 |
| 1976 | 22 | 13 | 2.51 | 40 | 23 | 6 | 315.0 | 255 | 101 | 88 | 20 | 159 | 1256 | CYA-1, MVP-10, GG |
| 1977 | 20 | 11 | 2.91 | 39 | 22 | 3 | 319.0 | 263 | 106 | 103 | 24 | 193 | 1269 | AS, CYA-2, MVP-19, GG |
| 1978 | 21 | 12 | 2.46 | 38 | 19 | 6 | 296.0 | 246 | 94 | 81 | 19 | 138 | 1197 | AS, CYA-3, GG |
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Next: Why 2018 Is Likely Manny Machado’s Final Season With Orioles
Once Palmer finished his Orioles career, not without a comeback attempt at 45-years-old, as the greatest Orioles pitcher of all-time with a whopping 268 total wins, most-ever in Orioles franchise history.