A card blog
favorite….So many titles it boggles the mind…."Call me shades"…"Joe Cool"…"Smooth Operator"…Legendary
for the dark shades he wore in 1969 and 1970 while with the Phillies …not for his pitching…Changes to a more tinted specs for Chisox spring training as seen below…
Apparently the glasses were used for glare and were even used at night…After
spring training was sent to the Sox AAA club in Tucson and never played for the
southside hitmen…Spent time with Cleveland and St Louis the year of
1972…Strikeout artist led American
Association in Ks in 1973….Was wild too
led the same league in walks…Based on his 1973 number reentered the show
with San Diego in 1974 and got the last two wins of career (bringing his total to 5)…Amazingly
was 3rd in HBP that year in only 73 innings pitched….must be the shades…played
senior league circuit in late 80’s….In 1975 played for hometown Sacramento
Solons in a football stadium with 250 foot left porch…the LA coliseum-like
configuration resulted ballooned power numbers and astronomical ERA’s…Palmer’s
5.91 ERA was just barely above the team average of 5.71…Oddly enough it was
reported he tried out for football at Sacramento State College…Rookie card was
considered coolest of all time by ESPN magazine.in 2008 (so it was the shades) and is #19 in the Bleacher Report "most ridiculous" card…Interestingly
he was traded for Mike Kekich who was so revered for another trade; off the
fireld…so much said for so little done on the field.
With his 13-8 record and 191 strikeouts at AAA in 1968, I contend he was one of the 15 players protected by the Phillies before the 1968 expansion draft.
ReplyDeleteHis strikeout to inning and home run/games ratios were very good but he gave up a lot of walks. The 1968 pitching staff average age about 30 years old so youth seem to be the way to go.
ReplyDelete