Jim Palmer 1966 #126

This is the rookie card for Jim Palmer and the year in which he came into his own going 15-10. He finished the year by beating Sandy Koufax and the Dodgers in a complete game shutout in the World Series at the age of 20 years and 11 months. That game was followed by shutouts from Wally Bunker and Dave McNally setting the record for consecutive scoreless innings in World Series play, (33 1/3).

Jim Palmer pitched outstandingly for the Baltimore Orioles from 1965 through 1984 becoming their all-time winningest hurler with 268 wins and 152 losses for a .638 percentage. He helped to win 6 pennants for the Orioles spanning 3 decades, making him the only pitcher to win a world series game in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He currently ranks 16th in career shutouts with 53.

Palmer was a 3 time Cy Young award winner (1973, 1975 and 1976), 2- time ERA Leader and 6-time All Star.  He had 8 20-game seasons and won 4 Gold Gloves. He pitched on the powerful Orioles staff of 1971, which is only the second team to have a staff with 4 20-game winners (Dave McNally -21, Palmer , Mike Cuellar and Pat Dobson - 20). The 1920 White Sox team was the only other to have four 20-game winners:  Red Faber - 23, Lefty Williams - 22, and Dickey Kerr and Ed Cicotte - 21. Palmer and McNally put together some great seasons together. From 1969 to '73, Palmer and McNally combined for 194 wins and only 97 losses.

On August 13, 1969, after coming off the disabled list, Palmer pitched a no-hitter against the Oakland Athletics. His best year was probably 1975, going 23-11, completing 25 games, including 10 shutouts and sporting a 2.09 ERA for the season. Palmer never gave up a grand slam home run and his career earned run average of 2.856 is the third lowest,  behind only Whitey Ford (2.75) and Sandy Koufax (2.75) for starting pitchers after 1920.

Among women Jim Palmer may be best known as the spokesperson and model for Jockey underwear and was baseball's sex symbol of the time.

Palmer was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1990.

You can check out Palmer's statistics at Baseball Reference.com.

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