Jim Palmer, baseball player, 1965-1984

Jim Palmer

⭐ Hall of Fame 1990

Born: 10/15/1945 in New York, NY, USA

MLB Debut: 1965-04-17 | Final Game: 1984-05-12

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 6'3" | Weight: 190 lbs

Full name: James Alvin Palmer

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Biography

Jim Palmer, born in 1945, was a dominant pitcher in Major League Baseball, whose career spanned from 1965 to 1984. He played his entire career with the Baltimore Orioles, establishing himself as one of the premier pitchers of his era. Palmer finished with an impressive record of 268 wins and 152 losses, boasting a career earned run average (ERA) of 2.86. Over his 19 seasons, he struck out 2,212 batters and recorded 4 saves, showcasing not only his ability to control games as a starter but also his versatility in critical situations. Palmer's excellence on the mound earned him notable recognition, including three Cy Young Awards and six selections to the All-Star Game. He was known for his powerful pitching style and durability, which were hallmarks of the game during the late 1960s through the early 1980s, a period characterized by strong pitching and strategic play. His contributions to the Orioles and the sport of baseball were solidified when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990, cementing his legacy as one of the greatest pitchers in the history of the game.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
268 152 558 521 211 53 4 3948.0 3349 1253 303 1311 2212 2.86 0

Career ERA 2.86 vs. league average 3.69 across their career seasons — 22.6% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1965 BAL AL 5 4 27 6 0 0 1 92.0 75 38 56 75 3.72 3.50 (-6%) -297.8
1966 BAL AL 15 10 30 30 6 0 0 208.3 176 80 91 147 3.46 3.52 (+2%) -1323.2
1967 BAL AL 3 1 9 9 2 1 0 49.0 34 16 20 23 2.94 3.30 (+11%) -1377.3
1969 BAL AL 16 4 26 23 11 6 0 181.0 131 47 64 123 2.34 3.61 (+35%) 2797.2
1970 BAL AL 20 10 39 39 17 5 0 305.0 263 92 100 199 2.71 3.89 (+30%) 5379.6
1971 BAL AL 20 9 37 37 20 3 0 282.0 231 84 106 184 2.68 3.47 (+23%) 2062.0
1972 BAL AL 21 10 36 36 18 3 0 274.3 219 63 70 184 2.07 3.26 (+37%) 3150.7
1973 BAL AL 22 9 38 37 19 6 1 296.3 225 79 113 158 2.40 3.75 (+36%) 2911.8
1974 BAL AL 7 12 26 26 5 2 0 178.7 176 65 69 84 3.27 3.63 (+10%) -429.2
1975 BAL AL 23 11 39 38 25 10 1 323.0 253 75 80 193 2.09 3.71 (+44%) 6476.7
1976 BAL AL 22 13 40 40 23 6 0 315.0 255 88 84 159 2.51 3.51 (+28%) 1589.2
1977 BAL AL 20 11 39 39 22 3 0 319.0 263 103 99 193 2.91 4.00 (+27%) 4531.4
1978 BAL AL 21 12 38 38 19 6 0 296.0 246 81 97 138 2.46 3.69 (+33%) 1624.0
1979 BAL AL 10 6 23 22 7 0 0 155.7 144 57 43 67 3.30 4.00 (+18%) 1204.2
1980 BAL AL 16 10 34 33 4 0 0 224.0 238 99 74 109 3.98 3.84 (-4%) -2797.3
1981 BAL AL 7 8 22 22 5 0 0 127.3 117 53 46 35 3.75 3.58 (-5%) -3355.6
1982 BAL AL 15 5 36 32 8 2 1 227.0 195 79 63 103 3.13 3.86 (+19%) -543.7
1983 BAL AL 5 4 14 11 0 0 0 76.7 86 36 19 34 4.23 3.87 (-9%) -1176.7
1984 BAL AL 0 3 5 3 0 0 0 17.7 22 18 17 4 9.17 3.81 (-141%) -1269.0

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
576 489 52 85 9 1 3 41 1 16 207 0.174 0.200 0.215 0.414 -3007.1

Career AVG .174 vs. league average .256 across their career seasons — 32.0% below league average.

Career OBP .200 vs. league average .321 across their career seasons — 37.9% below league average.

Career SLG .215 vs. league average .378 across their career seasons — 43.1% below league average.

Career OPS 0.414 vs. league average 0.699 across their career seasons — 40.7% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1965 BAL AL 29 26 2 5 0 0 1 3 0 1 10 0.192 — — — — 0.0
1966 BAL AL 36 73 11 7 1 0 1 5 0 3 33 0.096 .248 (-61%) .309 (-57%) .376 (-60%) .685 (-59%) -698.5
1967 BAL AL 9 13 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 9 0.077 — — — — 0.0
1969 BAL AL 27 64 5 13 3 0 0 6 0 3 30 0.203 .248 (-18%) .320 (-26%) .369 (-32%) .689 (-30%) -321.6
1970 BAL AL 44 113 13 17 0 0 1 9 0 2 48 0.150 .253 (-41%) .325 (-49%) .385 (-54%) .711 (-52%) -997.9
1971 BAL AL 38 102 7 20 1 0 0 9 1 3 41 0.196 .249 (-21%) .316 (-31%) .365 (-44%) .682 (-38%) -620.7
1972 BAL AL 36 98 12 22 3 1 0 8 0 2 36 0.224 .243 (-8%) .310 (-23%) .353 (-22%) .664 (-22%) -368.4
1973 BAL AL 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1974 BAL AL 26 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1975 BAL AL 39 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1976 BAL AL 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1977 BAL AL 39 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1978 BAL AL 38 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1979 BAL AL 23 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1980 BAL AL 37 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1981 BAL AL 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1982 BAL AL 36 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1983 BAL AL 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1984 BAL AL 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
20 35 3 3 1 0 0 3 2 14 0.086

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1983 ALCS BAL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1983 WS BAL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1979 ALCS BAL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1979 WS BAL 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000
1974 ALCS BAL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1973 ALCS BAL 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1971 ALCS BAL 2 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.200
1971 WS BAL 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 0.000
1970 ALCS BAL 1 4 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0.250
1970 WS BAL 2 7 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.143
1969 ALCS BAL 1 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.000
1969 WS BAL 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000
1966 WS BAL 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
8 3 17 15 0 124.3 101 36 50 90 2.61

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1983 WS BAL 1 0 1 0 0 2.0 2 0 1 1 0.00
1979 ALCS BAL 0 0 1 1 0 9.0 7 3 2 3 3.00
1979 WS BAL 0 1 2 2 0 15.0 18 6 5 8 3.60
1974 ALCS BAL 0 1 1 1 0 9.0 4 1 1 4 1.00
1973 ALCS BAL 1 0 3 2 0 14.7 11 3 8 15 1.84
1971 ALCS BAL 1 0 1 1 0 9.0 7 3 3 8 3.00
1971 WS BAL 1 0 2 2 0 17.0 15 5 9 15 2.65
1970 ALCS BAL 1 0 1 1 0 9.0 7 1 3 12 1.00
1970 WS BAL 1 0 2 2 0 15.7 11 8 9 9 4.60
1969 ALCS BAL 1 0 1 1 0 9.0 10 2 2 4 2.00
1969 WS BAL 0 1 1 1 0 6.0 5 4 4 5 6.00
1966 WS BAL 1 0 1 1 0 9.0 4 0 3 6 0.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 558 521 292 577 34 53

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1965 BAL P 27 6 6 17 3 1
1966 BAL P 30 30 14 26 1 2
1967 BAL P 9 9 2 9 0 1
1969 BAL P 26 23 7 11 1 1
1970 BAL P 39 39 21 42 2 4
1971 BAL P 37 37 27 41 5 3
1972 BAL P 36 36 14 37 3 4
1973 BAL P 38 37 24 35 2 3
1974 BAL P 26 26 15 33 1 2
1975 BAL P 39 38 30 52 6 7
1976 BAL P 40 40 27 49 1 2
1977 BAL P 39 39 20 48 2 5
1978 BAL P 38 38 27 43 2 5
1979 BAL P 23 22 10 23 0 1
1980 BAL P 34 33 14 37 2 6
1981 BAL P 22 22 12 26 0 2
1982 BAL P 36 32 16 37 2 3
1983 BAL P 14 11 5 8 1 0
1984 BAL P 5 3 1 3 0 1

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 558
Designated Hitter 3

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1982 Pitcher of the Month August
1982 Player of the Week Week of 1982-09-03
1979 Gold Glove P
1978 Gold Glove P
1978 Player of the Week Week of 1978-05-27
1978 TSN All-Star RHP
1977 Gold Glove P
1977 Player of the Week Week of 1977-04-16
1976 Cy Young Award
1976 Gold Glove P
1976 Player of the Week Week of 1976-09-10
1976 TSN All-Star RHP
1976 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1975 Cy Young Award
1975 Player of the Month August
1975 Player of the Week Week of 1975-08-15
1975 TSN All-Star RHP
1975 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1973 Cy Young Award
1973 TSN All-Star RHP
1973 TSN Pitcher of the Year
1971 TSN All-Star RHP

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1982 Cy Young Award AL 2nd 59.0 140 4
1982 Most Valuable Player AL 26th 5.0 392 0
1978 Cy Young Award AL 3rd 14.0 140 0
1977 Cy Young Award AL 2nd 48.0 140 6
1977 Most Valuable Player AL 19th 9.0 392 0
1976 Cy Young Award AL 1st 108.0 120 19
1976 Most Valuable Player AL 10th 47.0 336 0
1975 Cy Young Award AL 1st 98.0 120 15
1975 Most Valuable Player AL 6th 82.0 336 0
1973 Cy Young Award AL 1st 88.0 120 14
1973 Most Valuable Player AL 2nd 172.0 336 0
1972 Cy Young Award AL 5th 20.0 120 2
1972 Most Valuable Player AL 13th 21.0 336 0
1971 Most Valuable Player AL 21th 5.0 336 0
1970 Cy Young Award AL 5th 11.0 120 1
1970 Most Valuable Player AL 25th 4.0 336 0