Jim Palmer

I'm certainly not burying the lede on why I have selected Jim Palmer as my third Retro-MLBoyfriend given the photo above. What I mostly remember from his career was his side hustle as a Jockey Underwear model/spokesperson. However, I feel a bit bad about that because Palmer had a pretty spectacular, 19-season pitching career--all with the Baltimore Orioles.

Here are a few of Jim Palmer's career highlights:

• He is the only pitcher in MLB history to win World Series games in three decades (the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's). He remains the youngest pitcher ever to throw a complete game shut out in the World Series for his 1966 win. He won 3 World Series rings (1966, 1970 and 1983).
• He won 3 American League Cy Young Awards (1973, 1975 and 1976).
• In 19 seasons, he never allowed even one grand slam or back-to-back home runs.
• Of all MLB pitchers in the live-ball era (since 1920) who have pitched at least 1,500 innings, he has the 5th lowest career ERA at 2.86. I know that's a pretty convoluted stat, but the pitchers that are ahead of him are 3 Hall Of Famers, Sandy Koufax, Whitey Ford, and Hoyt Wilhelm, and one sure future inductee into the Cooperstown, Clayton Kershaw.

It's no surprise that Jim Palmer himself was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990.

Okay, now that I've covered his fame on the field, we can discuss what perhaps Jim Palmer is more famous for--being a pioneer in professional athletes endorsing underwear brands. I'll let him explain how it all started.

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Now, let's see just a few of Palmer's print ads that were everywhere in the late '70s and early '80s.

Palmer also starred in television commercials for Jockey.

Finally, even though it's not super sexy, I couldn't pass up sharing this little snippet of Jim Palmer's appearance in a Jockey corporate training video. It literally could not be more '80s if it tried.

Congratulations, Jim Palmer! You are my Retro-MLBoyfriend of the Week.

PS: Seven years ago, I made a post titled "My Ethical MLBoyfriend" in which I said I would try to do due dillegence and not name give anyone the title of MLBoyfriend if (among other reasons) he had horrible politics. Needless to say, I was nervous about naming a man born in 1945, but if Jim Palmer has gone totally MAGA, he has hidden it well. He did criticize Biden's boarder/immigration policy in a social media post; however, many centrists also questioned those policies. He also once poked fun at Trump (and himself) saying, "I've named myself the Donald Trump of broadcasters where as long as they don't fact-check me, I'm fine." So... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Jackson Chourio

Brice Turang hands the MLBoyfriend

title over to Jackson Chourio

For the second week in a row, a player for the Milwaukee Brewers has won the MLBoyfriend title. It's not that surprising since they are a very good team--their .623 record is the 3rd best in all of Major League Baseball.

Also, Jackson Chourio is overdue on being named my MLBoyfriend--although at age 22 and in his 2nd MLB season, he can't be long overdue. Chourio was a runner-up one week in his rookie year, but lost out to another rookie named Jackson, Jackson Merrill.

Last week, Chourio had a .448 batting average and 1.418 OPS. He scored 8 runs and batted in 10. He also hit 5 home runs over 5 consecutive games.

Chourio shares the National League Player of the Week title this week with his teammate, pitcher Jacob Misiorowski. (See above about the Brewers being a very good team.)

And, last but not least, Jackson Chourio is super cute.

Congratulations, Jackson Chourio! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Brice Turang

When Brice Turang walked up to bat on Monday, June 1st, surely he was hoping to end his week-long slump. His last hit had been on Sunday, May 24th, and since then, he had gone 0-for-21 at the plate.

Turang ended his slump in a spectacular fashion on June 1st. He went 2-for-2 hitting a double and a triple. He also walked twice, so he reached base in all 4 of his plate appearances. He scored 2 runs and batted in 2.

This would kick off an excellent week for Turang. He ended up with a .407 batting average and 1.262 OPS. He hit 2 home runs, scored 6 runs and had 8 RBIs.

Congratulations, Brice Turang! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.

Glenn Burke

"They can't ever say now that a gay man can't play in the majors, because I'm a gay man and I made it." --Glenn Burke

In the 157 years of professional baseball, only two players have come out as gay, Glenn Burke and Billy Bean; however, neither came out publicly until after they retired. Since Burke came out first, I'm honoring him as my first GAY Retro-MLBoyfriend. (Maybe next year, Billy!)

Billy Bean actually made a pretty nice video tribute to Glenn Burke, but it's a little to MLB-corporate branded. So, I'm going with this dishier tribute. (You didn't hear it from me, but the name of the "coach" mentioned in this video might rhyme with Lommy Tasorda.)

Whether or not Glenn Burke gave the first high-five is disputed. However, it is clear that it was a spontaneous action between Burke and Dusty Baker, and it seems to be the first on national television. Certainly, the fact the LA Dodger adopted it as their celebration is what caused it to spread like wild fire through sports.

Glenn Burke died of HIV/AIDS in 1995. The Dodgers honored Burke at their 2022 Pride Night including having his brother, Sydney, throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Thank you, Glenn Burke! I am proud to name you as my Retro-MLBoyfriend.

Tarps Off!

An MLBoyfriend first! We are celebrating the fans and the Tarps Off that is sweeping the baseball stadiums across the nation. Of course, college sports have a long tradition of male fans going shirtless to support their teams. However, this trend is new to Major League Baseball. There's some debate as to who did it first, but everyone seems to agree it was a group of St. Louis Cardinals fans the got the momentum going.

Oliver Marmol, the Cardinals' manager appreciated the Tarps Off energy so much, he gave the participants free tickets to the next game.

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The trend spread quickly. Click through to see Tarps Off fans from not only St. Louis, but also Detroit, Seattle and Tampa Bay.

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Congratulations to all who have participated in Tarps Off! You get the MLBoyfriend seal of approval.

Gavin Sheets

I usually start checking on Saturday and Sunday to see who might be candidates for the week's MLBoyfriend on Monday. Gavin Sheets was not on my radar at all, and then this happened on Sunday.

That game raised Sheets' stats for the week from good to amazing--2 home runs and reaching base 5 times in a single game will do that. He ended with 10 hits in 16 at-bats for an incredible .625 batting average and 2.177 OPS. He had 4 home runs and 1 double, scored 6 runs and batted in 8. #HolySheets indeed.

Sheets performance at the plate earned him the National League Player of the Week title for the first time since his MLB debut in 2021.

It's always fun when players who might not make it into the Hall of (Pretty) Good much less Cooperstown suddenly get hot. Maybe 2026 will be the year Sheets breaks out. Last year (probably Sheets best season), he hit 19 home runs total--which put him in a 10-way tie for 95th place in that stat. He already has 9 dingers this year putting him in a 5-way tie for 31st place.

Even if he reverts to the norm and ends the season with middling stats, no one can ever take away that Sheets won not one but two awards this week.

Congratulations, Gavin Sheets! You are my MLBoyfreind of the week.

Andy Pages

Even on the stacked Dodgers roster, Andy Pages stood out last week. He was not just the best player at the plate for Los Angeles, he was the best at the plate in all of Major League Baseball.

Pages had a whopping .417 batting average and 1.357 OPS last week. He hit 4 home runs, scored 5 runs, batted in 8 runs and had 1 stolen base.

Most of those stats come from one game. On Wednesday, May 6th, Pages hit 4 home runs and had 6 RBIs.

Congratulations, Andy Pages! You are my MLBoyfriend of the week.