Sep 22, 2018 3 min read

This week (Sept. 26), one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles, won his 20th game of the 1971 baseball season, joining three other Orioles’ pitchers, Mike Cuellar (20 games), Pat Dobson (20 games), and Dave McNally (21 games) on the 20-game-winner list, making the Orioles the first team since the 1920 Chicago White Sox to have four 20-game-winning pitchers on their roster. No team since has achieved that milestone.

Palmer, the only one of those pitchers in the Baseball Hall of Fame, was the last to reach the 20-game mark, which happened only two days after Dobson’s achievement. Dobson’s major-league career was mostly mediocre, but in 1971 he had his best season ever, including a 12-game winning streak in which nine were complete games (a feat practically unheard of today). At 20-8, Dobson also had the second-best record of the Orioles’ 20-game winners, trailing only McNally’s 21-5 record. The Orioles were so good that year that when Palmer notched his 20th win – a three-hit, 5-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians – the Orioles had already clinched the American League East championship.

Helping matters immensely was the fact that, in addition to four 20-game winners, the 1971 Orioles had four Gold Glove winners: shortstop Mark Belanger, second baseman Davey Johnson, centerfielder Paul Blair, and perennial all-star third baseman Brooks Robinson, considered by many to be the best defensive third baseman ever to play the game.

The Orioles were also prolific offensively, with four players boasting impressive offensive statistics. Brooks Robinson had 20 homers and 92 RBIs; first baseman Boog Powell had 22 homers and 92 RBIs; rightfielder Frank Robinson (another perennial all-star and two-time MVP) had 28 homers and 99 RBIs, and Davey Johnson had 18 homers and 72 RBIs.

Led by another Hall of Famer, Manager Earl Weaver, heading into the playoffs the Orioles were the favorite to win the World Series, and they swept the American League West champions, the Oakland Athletics, in the three-game league championship.

They then hosted the National League Champion Pittsburgh Pirates in the first two games of the World Series, won both and seemed invincible, until they lost the next three games at Pittsburgh, before winning game six at home.

This set the stage for game seven, at home, in which, in a 2-1 pitchers’ duel, Mike Cuellar lost to the Pirates’ ace, Steve Blass, and the Pirates were World Series champions.

So the Orioles – with four 20-game winners, four Gold Glove winners, and four players who averaged 22 home runs and nearly 90 RBIs – couldn’t notch the most important number four of all – four wins in the World Series.

Bruce G. Kauffmann’s email address is bruce@historylessons.net.