A piercing thought stopped Jim Palmer in the midst of a recent conversation covering his 61 years with the Orioles.
He has never traveled to Baltimore for a baseball spring without knowing Brooks Robinson would be there. Robinson, who died in September, was more than a longtime teammate and hot corner hoover who kept runs off Palmer’s pitching ledger.
“It was deeper than that,” Palmer said, thinking of the countless times Robinson and his wife, Connie, nurtured Palmer’s family with their kindness and wisdom.
Such melancholic moments arrive more frequently now that Palmer is 78. He doesn’t look his age or sound it when he calls games in his fourth decade as an Orioles broadcaster. But he says goodbye to more friends every year.
As the Orioles prepare to celebrate 70 years in Baltimore, Palmer is the living thread that binds all eras of the club’s history. He pitched for every Orioles team that made the World Series, accepted mentoring from the men who built the team’s culture and dispensed it to the generations that followed him. He remains a vital, candid voice connecting fans to the current Orioles, who pack so much youthful promise that they remind Palmer of the great teams from his pitching heyday.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/25/orioles-70th-anniversary-jim-palmer/