Jim Palmer’s Game-Used Cleats From the 1980s: Worn by the Hall of Fame Ace in His Final Orioles Seasons

By the time the 1980s began, Jim Palmer had already done most of what made him a Hall of Famer, and the decade became the final act. He went 16-10 in 1980 and 15-5 in 1982, good for the league's best winning percentage, and he finished second in Cy Young voting that year, a late flash from a pitcher who had already won three of them. Then came 1983. Palmer started only 11 games and went 5-4, but he was on the mound when it counted. He earned the win in Game 3 of the 1983 World Series against the Phillies, becoming the first pitcher in major league history to win a World Series game in three different decades. It was his third and final ring, after the 1966 and 1970 titles.

These game-used cleats come from that era, worn by Palmer in the 1980s. He pitched his whole career for the Orioles, and finished 268-152 with a 2.86 ERA and 2,212 strikeouts, an eight-time 20-game winner who led his league in wins three times and ERA twice. The end came quickly. The Orioles released him on May 23, 1984, after he refused to retire voluntarily, and they retired his number 22 the following year, before he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990 on his first ballot. For collectors, the cleats are a piece of the last years of the greatest pitcher in Orioles history, from the stretch when the ace of the 1970s became the veteran who helped Baltimore win it all one more time.