Jim Palmer, 1984 Donruss Champions #35

Here's one of the three Jim Palmer oddball cards I picked up at FanFest yesterday. It's from the Champions (Yesterday & Today) set that Donruss released in 1984, with 60 postcard-sized cards (3.5"x5") featuring 10 retired "Grand Champions" and 49 current stars who were chasing their records. The Grand Champions cards featured artwork by Dick Perez. The back of Palmer's card compares him to Cy Young, whose 511 career wins outpaced Jim's 268 by just a bit. Interestingly, it also notes that "Cakes" and his contemporary Phil Niekro were tied in wins after the '83 season. Of course, Palmer hit the wall in the very next season and was released after five winless games, and Niekro rode his knuckleball to another 50 W's in the following four years. But Jim still made it to the Hall of Fame seven years before "Knucksie", proving that pitcher wins don't tell the whole story.