On November 4, 1980, Steve Carlton was awarded the Cy Young Award, joining Sandy Koufax, Tom Seaver, and Jim Palmer as pitchers who have won three Cy Young Awards. Carlton collected all but one of the 24 first-place votes to take National League honors. Carlton finished the 1980 season with a 24-9 record and a 2.34 ERA, and he also led the National League with 286 strikeouts.
I knew if I walked him and he felt good, he’d steal second. And if he felt really good, he’d steal third. That would be like throwing a triple. So I gave him a low fastball, and he hit a home run.
~Jim Palmer on Joe Morgan
Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer, aged nineteen, made his Major League debut on May 16, 1965 when he came on in relief to pitch 3.2 innings. The O’s defeated the Yankees, 7-2, and Palmer recorded his first major league win. To top it all off, Palmer also managed to hit a two-run home run off Yankees starting pitcher Jim Bouton in the fourth inning. Palmer would finish the season with a 5-4 record.
I hate the cursed Oriole fundamentals… I’ve been doing them since 1964. I do them in my sleep. I hate spring training.
~Jim Palmer
On November 5, 1976, for the second consecutive season (and third ever), Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer won the Cy Young Award. In the voting cast by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), Palmer won 19 of 24 first place votes. That season, Palmer finished with a record of 22-13, a 2.51 ERA, and an average of 4.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
