Palmer, Jim (1945—)
Palmer, Jim (1945—)
From 1965 to 1984, Jim Palmer was among baseball's most successful pitchers, winning three Cy Young Awards for a team that won six pennants. Palmer achieved stardom at the age of 20 when the righthander shut out the Dodgers on the way to a Baltimore Orioles sweep in the 1966 World Series. An injury kept Palmer out of baseball for nearly two years, but in 1969 he was able to come back and establish himself as one of the game's premier pitchers, winning 268 games in a career that spanned 19 years. Despite the team's success, throughout his career Palmer shared a stormy relationship with manager Earl Weaver. When his baseball pitching days ended in 1984, the handsome Palmer embarked on a new career as a pitchman for Jockey shorts. Advertising posters in which he models underwear could be seen in Europe and Asia in addition to the United States.
—Kevin O'Connor
Further Reading:
Cohen, Joel H. Jim Palmer: Great Comeback Competitor. New York, Putnam, 1978.
Palmer, Jim, and Jim Dale. Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine: The Twenty-Year Friendship of Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Palmer and Orioles Manager Earl Weaver. Kansas City, Andrews and McMeel, 1996.