It's a pleasure right now to be joined by a Hall of Famer and a man that obviously has great memories pitching here at Dodgers Stadium during the nineteen sixty six World Series, and that is Orioles broadcaster and one of the national broadcasters we grew up with in the eighties and nineties, and that is the great Jim Palmer. Truly an honor to speak to you.
Well, great, that's great to be here. I mean, you know, coming back here. We were here in twenty sixteen. It seems like it was in twenty nineteen, but it wasn't. And you know, we came here in sixty six. You know, of course the Dodgers. I grew up in New York and I was a Yankee fan, so that almost every World Series seemed like it was, you know, the Dodgers
and the Yankees. Yankees won most of them. Dodgers did win in fifty five, and Don Larson, who pitched the perfect game in fifty six, was one of my teammates when I got to the big leagues in nineteen.
So I was born in.
New York, adopted moved a Whittier when my dad passed away. When I was nine and nineteen fifty five, and then we came to Beverly Hill was in nineteen fifty six. So I used to go to I used to go to Coliseum, and then I would when I moved to Arizona to go to high school. Dodgers actually wanted me to sign, but it was a year before the draft, and they said, listen, go to sc and I went to actually the backyard barbecue with Rod Dato and they said, you know, go there for a year.
We'll shine you the next year.
And I said, well, I have other teams interested, and they signed Jeff Torborg, who's a great guy, instead of me. And then you know that, of course the Dodgers we played him in sixty six in the World Series. They had won in sixty three and they beat the Yankees sixty three. They beat the Twins in sixty five, so when we came out here, we were the underdogs. And you know the irony is because of the Jewish holidays. Sandy kofax So was what twenty seven and seven that
year with a one night era. He didn't pitch game one, so I ended up you know, pitching game two, Game one, Brooks, Robinson and Frank Robinson hit home runs in the first inning.
Off John Drysdale.
But I'm twenty years old, and I'm thinking, you know, we really don't have much of a chance, you know, first time we'd ever been in the World Series. I said, well, maybe we do. And then Dave McNally started struggled. Motorbowski came in and struck out eleven Dodgers in six and two thirds innings, one of the great performances in relief. And I'm sitting there at twenty, and you know, I was a fasketball curveball pitcher. I tow real hard, but
sometimes it went over, sometimes it didn't. And I'm going to pitch against Sandy Kovacs and I go, I just don't want to embarrass myself.
And as it turned out, it was nothing. Nothing. Going to the fifth inning, Willie.
Davis dropped the fly ball, dropped another one, and it wasn't particularly every sunny, but it was you know, the you know, kind of the you know, June gloom, but it was in October. Picked up the second one through in the stands. We got some under and runs. You know, I think they made six errors in that game. We won six. Nothing went to Baltimore one won nothing, one nothing, and walked out of Memorial Stadium in Baltimore world champs.
It was it was, I mean, it was so surreal that we could not only beat the Dodgers, but some win four in a row. And you know, they didn't have a great offense and they were mostly about pitching. Get wills on. You know, Tommy Davis, who eventually played with us, was one of the great hitters, broke his ankle, so they didn't have a great offense, but they usually beat you because they didn't beat themselves. In my game, they beat themselves. And then how often do you have
won nothing ball games? You know, in their World Series, But we were able to do that. Wally Bunker who had been rookie pitch of the Year, but it had some arm problems, and then Dave bing Ally came back from struggling in Game one, one nothing, and you're World Champs.
Jim.
I heard my whole life growing up in the San Fernando Valley about those airs by Willie Davis, who everybody was shocked that he had those airs. Could you feel the momentum change in the World Series with those plays?
Well, it changed the score of the game. You know, we had one game.
I think we won Game one five to two, and they scored I think they scored in the second or third inning and never scored another run. You know, but again it was a four game series as it turned out. Yeah, but you know, I mean Sandy, I think through twenty three of the first twenty five pitches for strikes. I mean, even Sandy Kopex, I hit against him, you know. I mean as a kid, I used to come to Dodger Stadium and watch him pitch, and you know, I saw
him on television. I saw him in the World Series. But once again, I mean, you know, he throws it at your fastball and it starts in the lobby and ends up in the mezzanine. And then when you fail, oh well, you know, and I was pretty good hitter, I go, I better get a little bit quicker, and I use Frank Robbins as our one sixty one, and I go, and now all of a sudden, the same pitch that you thought was a fastball went end up in the lower basement because it was a curveball. John
Rosebery would catch her on the ground. And that's why Cofex was Copex.
Jim, I'm curious, when you come back to Dodgers Stadium, can you see yourself here? Because the ballpark was only four or five years old when you pitched here in the sixty six World Series. When you come back here, do you have those visions still?
Well, you know, you know, once again, I mean that's so long ago. My parents had come over from Arizona. I had relatives here. You know, when you're twenty years old and you're playing in your first World Series, it I mean, you're it's hard to be in the moment, you know. And I you know, we I played on a lot of really good teams. I mean, from sixty five to eighty four, the Ools had the best winning percentage in baseball. We were in six World Series, only
won three of them, but we were in them. You know, a lot of playoffs, played with some of the greatest players that ever played. And you know, I mean, you know, my first roommates, Robin Roberts, he had two hundred and seventy wins and it ended up with two hundred and eighty six. You know, Frank Robinson won the Triple ground in sixty six when we beat the Dodgers. Roox Robinson sixteen gold gloves. I played with Cal Junior who played
twenty six hundred and thirty two games. Our first baseman was Buck Powow with three fifty or Eddie Murray one of the seven guys that had over five hundred home runs in three thousand hits. You know, Blamser won eight gold gloves, is Short Blair one ecold gloves.
Don Vievers, who's.
From the valley, went to sc was one of the greatest, you know, greatest leadoff hitters from sixty nine when we won one hundred, nine hundred and eight hundred and one games played on the staff that had four twenty game winners in seventy one three in nineteen seventy. So you know, when I come out here, it's a different game. You know, they've draw it seems like more people that you know.
I ran into jannit Marie Smith, who was the architect who built Kimden Yards, and she was telling me how much foul territory they used to have and now they're seats.
So this was you know, everybody said this was a great base to pitch.
You add another what forty five fifty sixty feet of vowel territory, no wonder. Kopaxa, Drivesdale loved to pitch here. And you know Don Sutton, you know, won over three hundred games, So you know, the Dodgers have a great organization. They always have. I grew up in you know, again in New York, where you had you know, Dodgers had Snyder, the you know, the Giants had Maze. You know, the Yankees had Demaggio and Mantle. Was the only time in the history of baseball where you had three teams in
the same metropolitan area. So I come out here, I look at the Dodgers. It's hard not to because they won what eleven and I have the last twelve, you know, divisions, it's hard not They're kind of like what Atlanta did. And you know, obviously you know Dave Roberts is a terrific guy, you know, and again, I mean I remember his stolen base when they you know, when the Red Sox came back from being down three nothing. And you know, I love the Yankees when I grew up, and then
I was thirty and sixteen against him. Once you become a baseball player, you want to beat him because they're kind of the gold standard in the American League. So you know, we come out here and who's the gold standard in the National League The Dodgers.
And we were you know, we won last night three to two.
We need wins their lead and they have as good a record as anybody we have, you know, a bunch of injuries. They lost what fifteen hundred and eighty six games to injuries this year. So when you come out here and then you know here, I mean what they were fifty two thousand and now it's o'shawn, you know, Showhee, O'johnny.
And I look at and I saw o'donnie take batting practice last year in Anaheim, and I you know, I saw Mays and I saw him mantle and I'm going, nobody hits the ball as far as show he does. And you know, and I saw him when he came up and he started pitching. Because Mike Soshi said, you know, he kind of has a similar wind up. I said, well, I didn't stand on the third base side. He needs to get in the middle of the of the rubber and now, which is where he pitches now when he pitches.
So again, you know, they have some great players. You know, I know Freddie Freeman from Atlanta. You know, I knew Bookie Betts, who was one of the great players, you know, in the American League when he came up with the Red Sox. I saw him at a home run back in twenty fourteen, and I go, boy, does this kid have some bat speed?
And you know what, he had lost a whole lot.
One of the best players, Jim Palmer, hall of famer, first class all the way. We have a future Hall of Famer, certainly left hander with the Dodgers that you're not seeing in this series.
When you went now, rewears that same number that I work, twenty two. Why he wears twenty two. But you know I got to the Ools at age nineteen and they gave me twenty two, And people said, why'd you wear it? I said, because if you get the big leagues at nineteen, you'll take any number they give you. But oh, you know Clayton's out here. You know, I had a chance to talk to him. I mean about seven eight years ago.
We were behind the cage, and you know, I hope he you know, his shoulder recovers well, and you know, and he helps them, you know, get to the World Series or the playoffs. And you know again, I mean he's he's been a dominant left hander, and you know, he's he's kind of typical of maybe older pitchers and him he's not that old, but I mean, you know, he's had a lot of innings where you have to make some adjustments. You know, used to throw harder, but he still gets people out. You know, he's got a
great break and ball. He knows how to pitch. And again, you know, when you play for the Dodgers, you got a great chance to win.
Man Jim Palmer first class all the way. I feel like Hall of Famer doesn't do you justice. You are first class and you are a treasure to the game of baseball, and hopefully everybody, not only the fans, but the organization still values your input.
Well, you know, I've been there sixty one years in Baltimore, and you know they actually the former ownership Missus Angelo's. I have a step son with autism, and we have a place out in Orange County, you know, in Coronadel Mar which is Newport Beach, and when I was there fifty years, she gave me a check for fifty thousand dollars for autism. Last year blew my kids in I was there sixty years, gave me a check for sixty
thousand dollars. So I think ownership, even though we have a new ownership, Dave Rubenstein is going to do a wonderful job, you know. You know, we have a really good organization, a lot of good young players. Small small market teams are you know, I think we're our payrolls about ninety three million this year and we're trying to compete with the Yankees and trying to be with the Red Sox, trying to compete with it in the Blue Jays.
But again, I think I'm well appreciated, and like I said before, I had a chance to play with some of the greatest players that ever played. And I mean that's something you dream about, you know when I used to go to Yankee Stadium when I was nine years old. What's your greatest day ever? The day you go before Keller Television and you walk up that runway and you see how green the field is and the field's still green, especially here at Dodger Stadium. What a beautiful ballpark.
Jim Palmer still got those baby blue eyes that we saw at twenty years old, and the sixty six World series. Hopefully it can be somewhat of a revisiting of the sixty six World Series with the Dodgers and Orioles Gym and you'll come back out.
Well, you guys better be careful because we did win far or row. But again, you know, I mean, hey, like I said, if we got to the World Series again, you know, the last World Series was cal Ripken Junior's first World Series, you know, and he was, you know, twenty one or twenty two, just like I was. And he goes, you know, we're gonna have a lot and they haven't been back, so you know, again, hopefully that'll happen, and would be nice if it happened in twenty twenty four.
But like I said, we've lost three or four pitchers to Tommy John and you know, we'll just we're gonna make do. And you know, we made some trades and we have a very competitive ball club. And I looked at last night's game and I'm going, how do we win that game? But we did, and hopefully tonight we have Corbyn Burns, who's had struggled the last three or four starts, but very very capable pitcher WHI twelve wins and you know, you know as well as I do,
Walker Bueller. You know, before the Tommy John was one of the great pitchers in the National League. You know, he's thirty years old. Now he's struggling a little bit. So we're gonna have a pay game tonight, and I'm looking forward to it.
I can't wait to hear your impressions of tonight's game when I see you tomorrow. What a great treat to be able to share you with Dodger fans, because I know, even though you were an oriole your entire career, everybody in Los Angeles and California obviously values and certainly respects what you've accomplished in your career, not only as a player, but as a broadcaster, first class all the way.
Oh, thank you for that. And I even had a Dodger dog last night. Yeah, I'm just why I'm smiling.
Thanks a lot for the time, ja Oh, You're welcome. My pleasure.