The Cap-Busting 1980 Burger King Jim Palmer

Hair it your way...or would you believe, Burger Cakes?

Oct 15, 2024

If ever you’re in the mood for a baseball card showing a player with no cap, you have plenty of options.

Those include just about all of the expansion team players from the 1969 Topps set, and that 1966 Topps Frank Robinson where he’s sporting a Cincinnati Reds jersey even though he would win the Triple Crown for the Baltimore Orioles that summer. When I first saw that card in miniature form in the 1982 Topps KMart set, I thought F. Robby was a basketball player — that Reds vest thing reminded me of the shoulder straps on a hoops jersey.

I digress, but only slightly, because Robinson spent that 1966 season, and a good handful more, toiling alongside a young pitcher by the name of Jim Palmer. Eventually, they’d both land in the Hall of Fame.

But before Cooperstown came calling, the O’s had some serious winning to do, thanks in no small part Palmer, who reeled off eight 20-win seasons from 1970-78, taking a breather-stumble in 1974 just to remind us how great he had been, and would be.

Palmer wasn’t just a great pitcher, though — he was (and is, I suppose) a real looker. And if you weren’t sure about that, you could ask him.

But you didn’t really have to ask him, because Palmer showed up everywhere, including those famous/infamous Jockey underwear ads. You just knew he’d have a TV career when all was said and done, and he did/does, though I’m not sure how a primetime sitcom slot has eluded him all these years.

What didn’t elude Palmer was a head of the most luscious hair you’ll ever find on a dude, even if it eventually froze into a Shaun Cassidy 70s feathered sculpture of flow and stayed there. You could see Palmer’s hairdo coming from a baseball stadium away, and even today, you’d be hard-pressed to find a handful of players 50 years younger than him with better locks.

All of which is to say that it’s no surprise Palmer turned up on his 1980 Topps baseball card sans baseball cap. The Orioles were hot items, having narrowly lost the 1979 World Series to the “We Are Family” rendition of the Pittsburgh Pirates. And, even though Palmer slid to 10-6, he was still a superstar.

And still gorgeous.

So, yeah, his Topps card features him talking into a microphone in front of mostly empty stands, and his hair is a perfectly feathered capper to the whole thing.

But you know what’s even better than that hirsute card of Palmer?

His 1980 Topps Burger King Pitch, Hit & Run card.

I mean, it has the same basic design as the base card, but it also has the BK hamburger logo in the upper left-hand corner, forty years before every website would have its own little hamburger thing. And the picture … well, it very well could have been taken on the same day as the one used for the base card.

But the BK picture comes later, after Palmer has worked up a sweat that imbues his tanned skin with a sun-kissed sheen. And his hair, though not quite as perfect as in the “interview” card, has motion to it.

Like it’s fluttering in the Memorial Stadium breeze. No hat could hold it.

And if this card doesn’t make you want to head out to the ballpark or to a local diamond and let the wind lash through your own locks or across your bald pate, well, I’m afraid I can’t help you.

But you can still celebrate Palmer’s 79th birthday today.

A Legend(ary) Welcome

The very first batter Palmer faced in the major leagues?

That would be fellow Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, who walked against Palmer in the bottom of the third inning at Fenway Park on April 17, 1965. Orioles manager Hank Bauer brought in Cakes to relieve Robin Roberts, whom his teammates spotted a 5-0 lead in the opening frame but who gave up two runs in the bottom of the first.

The second run came on a solo shot by Yaz himself. By the time Boston’s left fielder came up again, Roberts had allowed three straight baserunners to reach base leading off the bottom of the third, and the score stood at 6-3 O’s.

Two batters after Yaz walked, Lenny Green singled home two runs, both charged to Roberts. Palmer pitched two full innings, giving up a hit and two walks, but not charged with a single run.

Baltimore coughed up the game, anyway, losing 12-9.

That home run was the first of 20 Yaz hit on the season, establishing a new career high. By then, his 1960 Topps rookie card was already a centerpiece of many New England collections, but his legend was just getting warmed up.

Read more about Yaz and his hobby-classic RC right here.

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Besides Palmer, Yaz, and Roberts, two other future denizens of Cooperstown appeared in that April 1965 game: Luis Aparicio and Brooks Robinson.

What’s the most future Hall of Famers you’ve seen play in one game? All-Star Games don’t count (though they do count for laughs when they end in a tie and Bud Selig has no idea what to do).

My very first in-person game might be my best in that regard: Tony Gwynn, Goose Gossage, Tony Perez, and Dick Williams.

Williams, of course, was managing, not playing. Don’t care. He counts double because Pop Fisher.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam

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