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Top 50 Orioles of All Time: #21, Rafael Palmeiro

That swing. In all my years as a baseball fan, the two sweetest swings I ever remember seeing live belonged to Ken Griffey Jr. and Rafael Palmeiro. Sitting down to write this piece, I thought maybe, just maybe, orange-colored nostalgia was clouding my memory. Yet MLB writers agree that Palmeiro’s swing ranks among the top-10 sweetest of all time. And, wouldn’t you know, twenty-five or so years later, the Palmeiro swing still looks as smooth on tape as memory had it.

Here is the Orioles first baseman in 1996, laying waste to Seattle Mariners pitching on a night he racked up five hits and six RBIs.