Your 2009 Jim Palmer Quotables Thread

[JBugaboo]

Lastly, what the heck are Hilltoppers?

Well, I Googled "hilltopper" and the fifth hit from the top was for urbandictionary.com, and it said...

[CrimsonTribe]

My highschool's nickname was the Hilltoppers. Our mascot was some sort of ram or mountain goat.

[RShack]

http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/nyy/history/ballparks.jsp

Hilltop Park

168th Street and Broadway, Manhattan

Capacity: 16,000 (plus up to 15,000 standing room)

Dimensions: Left field: 365 feet; center field: 542; right field: 400.

The site has been occupied by the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center since the 1920s.

The team was known as the Hilltoppers for the first several years it played at Hilltop Park. As early as 1905, however, the name "Yankees" began popping up in newspapers whose editors undoubtedly were searching for a shorter name for their headlines. By the time the franchise moved to the Polo Grounds in 1913, it officially changed to the New York Yankees.

Jim was right, folks.

Well, the rest of baseball history says they were known as the Highlanders before they became the Yankees, and Hilltop Park was just the name of the place they played, not the name of the team. Perhaps the term Hilltoppers was used informally, but it wasn't the name of the team, any more than Camden Yarders is the name of the Orioles.

[sfosfan]

Well, the rest of baseball history says they were known as the Highlanders before they became the Yankees, and Hilltop Park was just the name of the place they played, not the name of the team. Perhaps the term Hilltoppers was used informally, but it wasn't the name of the team, any more than Camden Yarders is the name of the Orioles.

I found this: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/yank.shtml

The link says "Yankees" was used starting in 1913.

I like that suggestion- Hilltoppers may have been their nickname. Like O's for Orioles, perhaps.

Maybe Roy can email Bob Costas and get the answer!

Go O's!

sfosfan

[RShack]

I found this: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/teams/yank.shtml

The link says "Yankees" was used starting in 1913.

I like that suggestion- Hilltoppers may have been their nickname. Like O's for Orioles, perhaps.

Maybe Roy can email Bob Costas and get the answer!

Go O's!

sfosfan

There's an old NY Times story you can google to find about the June 26, 1909 game they had vs. Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. In that story, the sportswriter refers to Mack's team as the Athletics several times but also calls the the Quakers, presumably due to Philly's history. He refers to the NY team as the Hilltoppers, the Toppers, the Yankees, the Yanks. However, every source I have ever seen says they were the Highlanders until they became the Yankees in 1913. This includes the MFY's website timeline of the franchise. So, calling the the Hilltoppers was like calling BAL (or StL or TOR) the Birds, or like calling the Pirates the Bucs. The diff is that it referred to where they played... but so did their real name of Highlanders.

[OK_Os_Fan]

This is a Thorne-ism

Tonight at the end of the second after Adam jones HR with Markakis at bat,

I am paraphrasing.

Here's Markakis up with the bases loaded and Nobody on.

WTF ???????????????????:laughlol: :laughlol: :laughlol: :laughlol:

[PrivateO]

Palmer is having a field day tonight with all these fundamental mistakes made by both teams.

[ravensfan28]

Palmer is having a field day tonight with all these fundamental mistakes made by both teams.

You hit it with that one. But i did'nt agree when he said the throw by Bass on the double play attempt was bad.

[The Wedge]

You hit it with that one. But i did'nt agree when he said the throw by Bass on the double play attempt was bad.

It was, though. It made Izturis reach to his left with the glove, as he was running. This increased the difficulty of a proper transfer.

[ravensfan28]

It was, though. It made Izturis reach to his left with the glove, as he was running. This increased the difficulty of a proper transfer.

I thought it was right over the bag and Izturis maybe was late getting there. But it's a judgement call so who knows.

[JBugaboo]

I appreciated how quickly Palmer groaned "Oh NOOO..." when he diagnosed that sending Montanez wasn't going to work in the 2nd. No doubt in my mind if he were 3B coach he would've stopped Lou in time.

[Cokeman]

Since this thread has kind of veered away from just Palmer...I think it was Manfra tonight, when Wigginton was at bat. "He hits a deep fly ball...its going, going...it hits the warning track and bounces into the stands."

[DrungoHazewood]

BP has an interview of Palmer by David Laurila (subscriber only). Not a lot of groundbreaking stuff, but Palmer comes off as very incoherent and unable to keep focus. A good example:

DL: If you were a young pitcher in the big leagues today, what would be different for you?

JP: It's a lot easier for the hitters now to know your tendencies. There are the hitting drills, and I think they're better prepared. You have hitting instructors and strength coaches. We went through the Steroid Era, and when people ask me about Mussina, he won 270 games pitching in an era when the strike zone was the size of an 8-by-10 paper, in Camden Yards before the football field was put in, where the ball carried and guys were cartoon characters. Plus, he won Gold Gloves and had the consistency. To me, he's a Hall of Famer. But if I was pitching now, guys can hit the ball fair inside, because they're much shorter to the ball. I think the hitting approaches are better. But at the end of the day, while the hitters are still better, are you... the key to pitching, and I prided myself in having a low earned run average, because to me that meant you were consistent, month after month, week after week, year after year, but just think about it. At the end of the day, even though you don't pitch complete games now—even though I think you should be prepared to—and hand the ball to your closer, you still have to beat the guy you're pitching against. That's the key to pitching. You have to be better than the opposition... the guy you're facing. Obviously, it helps if you have a closer better than their closer, the way the game is played now. But hitters are very well prepared now. They can do the statistical readouts, where most guys said, 'Palmer is going to start us off with fastballs.' Jim Spencer, who passed away, he was from Baltimore and I kept him from hitting .300 two years in a row. He hit .280-something and he was 0-for-32 against me. I'd see him on Monday in Texas, when I'd be pitching on Wednesday, and he'd say, "I'm laying off that high fastball." On Tuesday, I'd be out shagging and he'd run by and say, "I'm laying off that high fastball." Wednesday I'd throw the first high fastball and he'd pop it up. So, in the 12th inning, he's 0-for-32 over two years, and I figure, 'OK, where can I go where he's not going to hit a home run?' He's a great low-ball hitter, so I throw him a fastball up and away and he hits a little, soft single to left. I go, 'You could have been doing that the last two years.' So just like you kind of have to subjugate your ego on the mound, I think you have to do that as a hitter, and some hitters didn't do that. The guys that did... the Kansas City approach, where they hit the ball where you pitched, it was very tough to pitch against those teams.

Umm... ok.

Palmer is a smart guy, and on broadcasts he comes across as really knowing his stuff, but this interview was all over the place.

And it wouldn't be a Palmer interview without this:

Right back here at Fenway, 44 years ago yesterday, I came in with the bases loaded to face Tony Conigliaro, the first guy I ever faced in the big leagues. Hank Bauer was the manager, and he said, "Are you nervous?" I said, "Well, I've never done this before," because I was a starting pitcher in A-ball the year before. I said, "What do I do with this warm-up ball?" I had brought the warm-up ball in with me because I was so nervous. But I struck out Conigliaro, and 3,948 innings later I had never given up a grand slam. That could have happened with the first guy I ever faced. I struck him out on three pitches. He swung at two high fastballs and John Flaherty called him out on a knee-high fastball low and away. Not that I meant to do that, it just went there.

[Frobby]

Kind of rambling, but his point about hitters today having a lot more information at their disposal, and more favorable conditions, is well taken.

[Fan4Life]

BP has an interview of Palmer by David Laurila (subscriber only). Not a lot of groundbreaking stuff, but Palmer comes off as very incoherent and unable to keep focus. A good example:

Umm... ok.

Palmer is a smart guy, and on broadcasts he comes across as really knowing his stuff, but this interview was all over the place.

And it wouldn't be a Palmer interview without this:

It may be the difference between reading what Palmer says and hearing it. Because for me, he often breaks mid sentence to go down a different path during an explanation or break down of a player or situation.