The clouds had gathered over Sarasota to threaten his historic first workout, but Palmer -- the
"It was fun," Palmer said, "but I told
Did he also have a news conference? Yes, but that was at the request of the club. Hall of Famers don't come out of retirement every day.
Robinson didn't even come over to watch him throw, though that should not be construed as a sign of disinterest. He met with Palmer yesterday morning and told him not to feel pressure to prove anything in the first few days of training camp.
"There was no sense in watching," Robinson said. "I'm not going to judge him on what he did today. The important thing is for the pitching coach to see him and get familiar with him."
But if Robinson had decided to watch, he would have seen more than a flash from the past. Palmer was working out side-by-side with an important piece of the Orioles' pitching future. A few feet to his left,
"I told Al Jackson, 'Put him on my left, because I don't want to have to look at him,' " Palmer said. "I could tell he has a very live arm. He didn't throw any strikes, did he?"
Behind Rhodes was left-hander Mike Linskey. Behind him was hard-throwing
"Jeff Ballard told me I'm old enough to be his father, and he's 27," Palmer said. "There's some truth to that. The players don't look as young from up in the broadcast booth as they do on the field."
Rhodes tried to keep his mind on his own work, but he was aware that the greatest pitcher in Orioles history was throwing just a few feet away.
"I just tried to look at the target the whole time," he said. "If I take my eyes off the target, I'm going to be throwing the ball off the fence. But it was hard not to look at him. He's such a famous player. He had good mechanics. He threw the ball well."
It was a study in contrast, but Palmer concedes that he is not that kind of pitcher anymore. He was a hard thrower in his youth, too. Now, he hopes that age and experience can pick up where his velocity leaves off.
"For me to say that I could be as good as I was, that would be silly," Palmer said. "But if I can go six or seven good innings on a regular basis, that's something I think is possible. I may turn out to be wrong, but that's what I'm here to find out.
"It's a real long shot that I'm going to make this ballclub, but you never know what's going to happen. If I don't make it, I hope that I can be a good influence on the young pitchers. If nothing else, it'll help me as a broadcaster because I'll know all of them better."
Palmer is forever having to explain himself. He embarked on this unlikely comeback attempt because (a) he thought he retired prematurely; (b) he refused to accept a pay cut from
By way of further explanation, Palmer borrowed a quote from ballet dancer Erik Bruhn, who convinced close friend
"He said something like this," Palmer recalled, " 'The bottom line is: Why shouldn't I keep dancing? Everything I have done great has been recorded in history. I mean, it's already been written down.' "
Everyone seems skeptical, Palmer included, but he appears to be in excellent physical condition and says he's pitching without pain or stiffness.
"I don't know if he can do it," said former teammate Elrod Hendricks, "but if anyone can do it, he can. It's been an obsession with him. He wanted to be the first Hall of Famer to come back. It wasn't something that just came up overnight."
How long can it last? Robinson told him to take the entire six weeks of
"There's one thing I do know," Hendricks said. "We will not have to make the decision for Jim Palmer. He has too much pride in himself. He has high expectations for himself, and, if he doesn't reach those standards, he'll know. He's not going to do anything to embarrass himself or his ballclub."