RetroSimba

Lowell Palmer had a penchant for the fast lane. A right-handed pitcher, he mostly threw fastballs. Off the field, he drove a Corvette convertible, rode a Triumph motorcycle, worked as a private investigator, and dated the manager’s daughter.

Palmer wore shades when he pitched, not to look cool, but because his eyes were highly sensitive to light. To a batter peering from the plate to the mound, the sight of a hard thrower with erratic control in a pair of black sunglasses could be unsettling, if not intimidating.

On May 16, 1972, the Cardinals acquired Palmer from the White Sox for pitcher Santiago Guzman.

Palmer’s stint with the Cardinals was unsatisfying and brief, but not forgettable.

Born to be wild

Born and raised in Sacramento, Palmer struck out 127 batters in 67 innings as a high school senior, according to the Sacramento Bee. He also walked 21 in a game _ and won.

“I had no idea where that ball was going,” Palmer said to the Bee. “Sometimes, I didn’t give a damn. There were times I wanted to throw the ball so hard, I didn’t care where it went.”

Or, as he told The Sporting News, “I could throw it through a brick wall, but I didn’t know which wall.”

Palmer was 18 when he was signed by Eddie Bockman, a Phillies scout who also got for them another Sacramento native, shortstop Larry Bowa.

When he was 20, Palmer was with the Phillies at spring training, saw a young woman poolside at the team hotel, and asked her for a date. She accepted.

She was Leanne Mauch, daughter of Phillies manager Gene Mauch.

“All I know is that I took her out one night, and the next morning I was sent to the minors,” Palmer told The Sporting News.

Fast worker

In 1969, Mauch was managing the Expos and Palmer was with the Phillies’ farm club in Eugene, Ore. After producing an 8-1 record, he was called up to the Phillies in June. His first big-league win was a shutout of Mauch’s Expos in Montreal. Seated behind home plate and keeping score was his date for the weekend, Leanne Mauch. Boxscore

“She’s a terrific girl,” Palmer told the Philadelphia Daily News, “but don’t go starting any romance rumors, like I’m getting married or something. I don’t have the money to get married.”

Phillies officials rated Palmer’s fastball the best in the organization. According to The Sporting News, he threw fastballs “90 percent of the time.”

“He has the kind of fastball that breaks bats and rules,” Stan Hochman wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Palmer said, “When my fastball is right, it moves in and out without me knowing which way it’s going. Sometimes it runs like a slider, and other times it tails off and hits the corner.”

Palmer faced the Cardinals for the first time on July, 9, 1969, at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. He gave up 12 hits, including home runs by Joe Torre, Vada Pinson and Lou Brock. Boxscore

Three months later, on Oct. 1, 1969, Palmer relieved in the ninth against the Cardinals. With the score tied at 5-5, two outs and none on, he walked Torre, and Ted Simmons followed with a walkoff RBI-triple to left-center. Boxscore

“He threw me a fastball, high and away, and I went with the pitch,” Simmons told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “If I’d pulled it, I probably would have popped it up.”

Undercover work

In 1970, Palmer appeared on a Topps baseball card wearing dark sunglasses.

“He has sensitive eyes, so he wears dark glasses that look as though they were carved out of chunks of bituminous coal when he pitches,” Stan Hochman wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News.

Palmer told the newspaper, “I was born missing a cover over my eyes that you’re supposed to have to help filter out light. My eyes are ultra-sensitive to light, even on cloudy days.”

On May 12, 1970, Dick Allen, facing the Phillies for the second time since they traded him to the Cardinals, walloped a Palmer pitch into the upper deck seats above the Stadium Club windows in left at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Boxscore

“He jumped on Palmer’s fastball and pulled the stitches off it,” Bill Conlin wrote in the Philadelphia Daily News. “The ball soared over diners in the plush Stadium Club, melting their Baked Alaskas.”

After the season, Palmer joined his stepfather in forming a private investigation agency in Sacramento, The Sporting News reported. Driving a Corvette convertible, Palmer was a private eye for multiple years, according to the Sacramento Bee.

Summer in St. Louis

At spring training in 1971, Palmer had shoulder trouble, prompting the Phillies to propose surgery. Palmer credited his motorcycle for altering the plan.

“I bought a Triumph, a shaky one, though I didn’t know that at the time,” Palmer told the Post-Dispatch. “The vibrations broke up the (calcium) deposits in my shoulder. I didn’t need any surgery.”

After the season, the Phillies traded Palmer to the White Sox, who projected him as a reliever. At spring training in 1972, when reminded that Palmer had dated Gene Mauch’s daughter, White Sox manager Chuck Tanner quipped to The Sporting News, “I’d give up a daughter for a good relief pitcher anytime. Good relievers are hard to find.”

Tanner kept his daughter, and Palmer began the season in the minors. After pitching in eight games for Tucson, the White Sox dealt Palmer, 24, to the Cardinals. He was assigned to their Tulsa farm team, started two games and was called up to St. Louis.

Manager Red Schoendienst used Palmer as a reliever. On July 11, he entered in the 15th inning against the Braves and loaded the bases. With two outs, Palmer threw two fastballs for strikes to Oscar Brown, then tried a slider. “The pitch bounced into the dirt and away from catcher Ted Simmons,” the Post-Dispatch reported, enabling Gil Garrido to score from third with the winning run. Boxscore

“To be truthful, I haven’t been sharp since I’ve been here,” Palmer said.

During his summer in St. Louis, Palmer met KSD-TV’s Dianne White, the first black weathercaster in America, and they began a collaboration on a book, The Sporting News reported.

“Then somebody broke into her car and stole all the tapes and stuff, and it just kind of died,” Palmer told the Post-Dispatch.

In 16 appearances for the 1972 Cardinals, Palmer was 0-3, walking more batters (26) than he struck out (25). 

With two weeks left in the season, the Cardinals placed him on waivers and he was claimed by the Indians.

Take that!

Palmer was with the Indians’ Oklahoma City farm team, managed by former Phillies manager Frank Lucchesi, in 1973 and led American Association pitchers in strikeouts (203 in 196 innings).

“Maybe this means I’m a prospect again, not a suspect,” Palmer said to The Sporting News.

In 1974, he pitched for the Yankees’ Syracuse affiliate, managed by future Hall of Famer Bobby Cox, and was 5-1 in eight starts before returning to the majors that season with the Padres.

On Aug. 13, 1974, the Padres’ Vicente Romo, making his first start of the season, injured his pitching arm in the first inning against the Cardinals at St. Louis. Palmer relieved, pitched 8.1 innings allowed one run and got his last win in the majors, relying almost exclusively on fastballs. Boxscore

“He threw one speed all night,” Schoendienst moaned to the Post-Dispatch. “We’ve got to hit him.”

Palmer’s career mark in the majors was 5-18 with a 5.29 ERA.

In 1975, Palmer, 28, pitched in his hometown for the Sacramento Solons, a Brewers farm club, After the season, he tried out for the football team at Sacramento City College, where he studied political science, and made the squad as a defensive end and punter.

“They call me Old Man,” Palmer told the Post-Dispatch. “Most of them don’t even know my name. Just Old Man.”