Nine Innings to Success by Jim Palmer
Nine Innings to Success by Jim Palmer
A Hall of Famer's Approach to Achieving Excellence.
Jim Palmer’s second book (co-authored with Alan Maimon), Nine Innings to Success: A Hall of Famer’s Approach to Achieving Excellence, was published in 2016 by Triumph Books. I’m more than a few years to reading the longtime Oriole pitcher/broadcaster’s memoir but it was worth the wait.
Palmer’s second book is part memoir and part professional development. That’s the simplest way of looking at it. He’s able to offer pointers for life’s success through reflecting back on his own career—both the ups and the downs. Just like with his earlier book, there are plenty of Earl Weaver stories to go around. Every chapter is an inning and the Hall of Famer uses the seventh-inning stretch to just share stories from throughout his career.
Palmer contributed to three World Series championships (1966, 1970, 1983) as a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, won three Cy Young Awards, and notched 268 career wins. Inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990, Palmer did something that you wouldn’t expect from someone inducted in Cooperstown. He decided to attempt a comeback in his mid-40s. Unfortunately, his body wouldn’t have any of it and so he retired as a player for good. Suffice it to say, he’s really made a second career of being an Orioles broadcaster. That is, if you don’t count his roles as a corporate spokesman. Yes, there’s plenty here about working for Jockey, too. You know you want to read about it.
Before he could reach the big leagues, Palmer played his way through the Orioles system learning The Oriole Way from the likes of Cal Ripken Sr. He discusses the team’s core set of principles developed by manager-general manager Paul Richards and scouting/minor league director Jim McLaughlin. Richards had written a book and adapted it into an instruction manual. Ripken Sr. and Earl Weaver were instrumental in passing along the teachings to their players. Palmer makes the segue into discussing Hall of Fame teammates Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson. The acquisition of the latter Robinson helped the Orioles win their first World Series. But anyway, The Oriole Way comes up time and time again, as it should.
He discusses the early years of free agency. After seeing Reggie Jackson hold out for a better contract, Palmer decided to renegotiate for a better contract. Back in 2010, Palmer voted for longtime MLBPA executive Marvin Miller to be elected into the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, Miller fell short by a vote. He reached the 75% threshold in 2020, eight years after his 2012 passing. It’s a shame that he was never inducted while he was alive. As Palmer writes:
To some owners the idea of Marvin in Cooperstown is an anathema. But the truth is that the owners are the ones who created him by opposing any form of free agency or arbitration for years and years. Nobody did more to change the landscape of baseball than Marvin.
Well said, Jim.
Palmer got an early broadcasting tryout in 1978. It turns out that Reggie Jackson was ABC’s first choice. However, Jackson and the Yankees were playing the Boston Red Sox for a spot in the ALCS against the Kansas City Royals. As Palmer’s luck would have it, Bucky Dent hit the game-winning home run.
Red Sox fans might hate Bucky for crushing their hopes, but every time I see him, I tell him he was responsible for my big break in broadcasting.
As the pitcher transitioned into broadcaster, he shares his memories of working alongside Howard Cosell and Al Michaels. Palmer was on the ground in the Bay Area with Michaels and Tim McCarver when ABC was broadcasting the 1989 World Series. Michaels soon went into news reporter mode as the game was placed on hold after a devastating earthquake struck the area. He segues into the 1989 World Series by discussing Jim McKay and the 1972 Munich Olympics, where 11 Israelis were killed by terrorists. Palmer felt proud to be affiliated with ABC because of the likes of McKay.
He uses his celebrity to help make a difference. For instance, he lent his hand to a struggling restaurant by endorsing it through the Baltimore paper. At the same time, Palmer will “never understand people whose default setting is rudeness.”
It’s a sad statement on where we are as a country, but 21st century America seems to value fame over talent. Never have there been so many people who are famous for simply being famous. I’m not being haughty when I say that. After all, my fame stemmed from the act of throwing a ball with speed and accuracy. I always tried to remind myself of my good fortune, however. Because of the attention given to my baseball career, I had a natural platform to give back.”
He isn’t wrong. Meanwhile, he also writes about working:
Some people live to work. Others work to live. Then there’s the vast majority of us who fall somewhere in between. If you like what you do for a living, and I hope that’s the case, I think it’s important to enjoy your workplace experience. There’s a link between happiness and productivity, and I credit much of my success to workplace camaraderie and an ability to never take myself too seriously.
I mean, he’s not wrong. It’s probably why my path took me in a career towards writing. It’s given me the ability to write about movies, TV, and baseball. While it might not exactly pay the bills, it’s enjoyable work…except for when movies are bad. But hey, this isn’t a bad book. It’s a really quick, insightful, and enjoyable read.
This would not be a Jim Palmer book without discussing his cameo appearance in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad in the ninth inning. It’s not an official baseball movie per se but the final half hour takes place during a game against the then-California Angels and Seattle Mariners at Dodger Stadium. Hall of Fame right fielder Reggie Jackson and umpire Doug Harvey make an appearance. Because I didn’t watch the film in its entirety on Tuesday night, I opted against logging on Letterboxd. Regardless, it’s worth it alone for Leslie Nielsen’s antics and seeing just how anyone can juggle “a ridiculous seven-person booth” featuring Palmer alongside several Hall of Fame broadcasters (Curt Gowdy, Tim McCarver, Mel Allen, Dick Enberg, Dick Vitale) and psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers.
It’s a bit over 200 pages and Roy Firestone writes the foreword. Like other Triumph Books biographies and memoirs, I couldn’t put it down after picking it up on Saturday. I was able to get through a few innings (chapters) per day. I credit this to both Palmer and co-writer Maimon in writing it in a way that’s insightful and enjoyable. If it weren’t enjoyable, I wouldn’t have read it so quickly. I learned a lot about Jim along the way. Did you know that he was adopted? Or did you know that his adoptive father was Jewish? I didn’t until this past weekend.
Nine Innings to Success allows fans to learn about a baseball player-turned-broadcaster while learning about what can help better one’s life.