Palmer Was First Beverly Hills’ Major Leaguer

Before a Hall of Fame career with the Baltimore Orioles and later success as an announcer and underwear pitchman, Jim Palmer was a record-setter for the Yankees of the Beverly Hills American Little League.

Palmer was born in New York City and moved to Whittier when his widowed mother headed west to operate three dress shops owned by his uncle. After a year in Whittier, Palmer relocated to Beverly Hills in 1956.

“We first lived at 145 S. Almont, then after my mother got remarried, my stepfather bought a house in Coldwater Canyon,” Palmer said before a recent Angels-Orioles game. “But I kept going to Horace Mann because I wanted to stay in school with my friends.”

Palmer did notice a difference in affluence between himself and his teammates.

“They’d come to games driven by their chauffeurs, while I came on my bike after my paper route,” said Palmer, whose marks for strikeouts and home runs have since been broken.

What else does Palmer, who now is an Orioles announcer and lives near Baltimore, recall about his years in Beverly Hills?

“Good fields, good schools and inexpensive homes,” Palmer said “My stepfather paid about $35,000 for ours.”