Graph of the Day: Jim Palmer and Mike Cuellar

by Harry Pavlidis on May 27, 2009 6:00 AM EDT Comment 2 comments

The end of the 60s was a start of an era for the Baltimore Orioles.

In 1969 Jim Palmer came back from arm surgery. Mike Cuellar, a 32-year old veteran, came over from Houston. The two would go on to anchor the Baltimore rotation for eight seasons.

These were Orioles starting pitchers during the first and final seasons of that run, according to Baseball Reference:

1969

Mike Cuellar
Jim Hardin
Dave McNally
Jim Palmer
Tom Phoebus

1976

Mike Cuellar
Wayne Garland
Ross Grimsley
Ken Holtzman
Rudy May
Jim Palmer

Cuellar was released in December of 1976, but pitched one more year for the Angels at the age of 40. He first come up as a 22-year old, but his next trip to the majors was five years later. He certainly made-up for lost time.

Palmer wore tighty-whities and pitched very well for a long time.

Oh, right, a graph. Career WAR #'s, with the median HOF line included (from Baseball Projection). Palmer conveniently has the same 19-year career as the median.

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1977-1983 Orioles Starting Pitching

That wasn’t too bad, either. The Orioles had Jim Palmer, Mike Flanagan, Scott McGregor, and Dennis Martinez during that time period. Steve Stone won a Cy Young in 1980 winning 25 games. Mike Boddicker and Storm Davis were big contributors to the 1983 world championship team.

I can’t believe how competitive Baltimore was from 1964-1983. The Orioles had a winning percentage of at least .559 in 17 of those 20 seasons. Since 1983, Baltimore has done that only twice in 1994 and 1997.

"The big possums walk late." - Harry Caray

by memphiscub on May 27, 2009 9:14 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs