1978 Topps #160 Jim Palmer
About Jim Palmer
Palmer made the American League All-Star team in 1977, a season he finished 20-11 with a 2.91 ERA over 319 innings for Baltimore. His salary that year settled at $260,000 plus a bonus for a significant contribution, and the Orioles paid that bonus only after the players' association filed a grievance. Topps issued him twice in 1978: #160, with the All-Star designation on the front, and the wins card #205 in the League Leaders subset, shared with Steve Carlton, Dave Goltz and Dennis Leonard.
James Alvin Palmer pitched all 19 of his major league seasons with the Baltimore Orioles (1965-1967, 1969-1984) and finished as the winningest pitcher of the 1970s with 186 wins. A right-hander whose best pitch was a high fastball, he worked on three World Series champions (1966, 1970, 1983) and six American League pennant winners, and he is the only pitcher to win a World Series game in three different decades. His Game Two shutout of Los Angeles in the 1966 Series, thrown nine days before his 21st birthday, made him the youngest man to pitch a complete-game shutout in a Series and sent Sandy Koufax off in his final appearance. Palmer won three Cy Young Awards (1973, 1975, 1976), four straight Gold Gloves (1976-1979), two ERA titles and six All-Star selections. He won 20 or more games eight times and finished 268-152 with a 2.86 ERA and 53 shutouts. Arm trouble cost him most of 1967 and all of 1968, but he came back in 1969 with the only no-hitter of his career. He was nicknamed Cakes for the pancakes he ate on the mornings he pitched. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990, his first year of eligibility.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference · BaseballCardPedia
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 1,626 | 81 | 537 | 597 | 139 | 94 | 103 | 74 | 1 |
| SGC | 149 | 1 | 29 | 47 | 30 | 18 | 4 | 20 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-10-19. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
More Jim Palmer in this set: #205 League Leaders
Team card: #96 Baltimore Orioles Team
More Baltimore Orioles cards:
- #4 Brooks Robinson
- #9 Doug DeCinces
- #36 Eddie Murray
- #65 Ken Singleton
- #119 Denny Martinez
- #188 Al Bumbry
- #205 1977 Victory Leaders
- #211 Earl Weaver
- #237 Rich Dauer
- #262 Rudy May
- #287 Kiko Garcia
- #315 Mark Belanger
- #341 Mike Flanagan
- #367 Rick Dempsey
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1978 Topps #160 card?
It is card #160 of the 726-card 1978 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles.
How many cards are in the 1978 Topps Baseball set?
726 cards, numbered 1 through 726 with none skipped and issued as a single series, and 728 collectible states: #23 Bump Wills comes with or without a black circle, and #374 Jose Morales with or without black stitching over the red laces, so the master set counts both states of each.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, BaseballCardPedia, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-25.