I’ve been fortunate to have good doctors throughout my life, and that includes the dentists, even though it concerned me when they removed my wisdom teeth. There was one visit I regretted, though, and it had nothing to do with what happened in the dentist chair.

I had an appointment on October 6th, 1966. I didn’t think much about the date until the Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers met in the World Series that year. I ran home from school for Game 1 and arrived just in time to see Frank and Brooks Robinson hit back-to-back homers off Don Drysdale in the first inning to power the Orioles to a 5-2 win behind a stellar relief performance by Moe Drabowsky.

The next day, October 6th, 20-year-old Jim Palmer would face my favorite pitcher, Sandy Koufax. World Series games were played in the daytime back then, and it suddenly dawned on me that I wouldn’t be able to see Game 2. Despite my pleading, my mom insisted that we had to keep the appointment. For the first and only time, I dreaded going to the dentist.

I listened to the game on the ride to Dr. Whitaker’s office and was thrilled to continue to hear it when I walked into his office. He, too, was a baseball fan, and we heard Palmer outduel Koufax in the last game he would pitch because of an arthritic left elbow. Willie Davis kept losing balls in the sun, and the Orioles won, 6-0.

Palmer became the poster boy for pancakes that year, posing for a picture with pancakes piled high on his plate because he would have them for breakfast on the days that he pitched. The superstition became a famous photo back in the days when players would pose for such shots, and Palmer had become famous. I think there were 20 pancakes on the plate, which would coincide with the eight seasons of at least 20 wins for the Hall of Fame pitcher.

He has now been with the Orioles for more than 60 years, bringing his analytical skills and knowledge to the broadcast booth. His attention to detail and memory are extraordinary, and when he speaks, it’s worth listening. When he has a suggestion, it should be taken seriously.

Appearing on the Bmore Sports Podcast, Palmer revealed that he presented a suggestion through a text to first-year manager Craig Albernaz back in February, before spring training. It was about how to possibly help outfielder Colton Cowser, whose ineptness against left-handed pitching and high strikeout rate continued this past season.

“So I said, you know what, send it in a text. I said, I don’t want to interfere, but maybe spring training for Colton should be getting the normal conditioning and playing,” Palmer said. “But watching Cody Bellinger, who hit .359 against left-handed pitching last year, .298 the year before, and .319 the year before, watch his at-bats.”

I watched Bellinger nearly hit a grand slam against Tampa Bay left-handed reliever Cam Booser on Monday night. Bellinger hit .274 with five home runs and 23 RBIs against lefties this year. Cowser hit .158 with one home run and seven RBIs in 65 at-bats against left-handers.

Palmer said Albernaz didn’t respond to the text, and that he brought it up when the two were together with about five weeks left in the season.

According to Palmer, Albernaz referred to it as something from “a long time ago,” then said it’s a lot easier to talk about something than to actually do it.

“I said, well, I’ve been around over 60 years, and I said, you know what my experience tells me,” Palmer recalled. “If you don’t talk about it, there’s no chance of doing it.”

After Palmer’s words went viral, he said this on his social media account:

“I’m not a fan of lots of people ganging up on Craig Albernaz. The only reason I related this story was because Craig and I had established a text relationship. So strange, no response. I sent the Cowser text because I had seen [him] win many games with his glove and bat and having him on the field as often as possible would materialize in more O’s win[s]. Only a suggestion to possibly make that happen.”

It’s understandable that people would pile on after another subpar season, with Palmer’s words serving as a lightning rod. We haven’t heard from Albernaz and maybe sometimes getting him to reply to a text is like pulling teeth.

And although there is wisdom in Palmer’s suggestion, my frustration, and concern, is that Albernaz didn’t realize from the start that Cowser was his best outfielder, and that he didn’t do all that he could to put Cowser in a position to succeed.  And that he had Leody Taveras playing center field instead of Cowser, when there’s no comparison when it comes to defense, which should be valued more than he demonstrated.

Cowser made the defensive play of the season for the Orioles when he took away a home run from Colorado’s Jake McCarthy for the final out in a 2-1 win for the Orioles.  It made me wonder if Albernaz had shown faith in him as an everyday player from the start of spring training whether his, and the Orioles’ season might have turned out somewhat differently.

Albernaz will get a second chance next spring, barring a work stoppage, with Cowser and other core players such as Coby Mayo, Jackson Holliday, Gunnar Henderson, and Samuel Basallo.  It will be interesting to see what he and his coaches have learned, maybe some of which they didn’t need to learn the hard way.