Ancestry DNA discovers that adopted Hall of Fame Baltimore Orioles pitcher is 94% Irish.
Over a 19-year major league baseball career, Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer won 268 games for the Baltimore Orioles. He was known for his composure on the mound, be it a spring training game or the seventh game of the World Series. His poker face displayed no emotion. Apparently, drama is not in his DNA.
But since he was adopted, he didn't know what else was in his DNA - and he apparently didn't care. He never had a driving curiosity about his biological parents, perhaps because he was showered with love by his adoptive parents. His wife Susan is just the opposite of Palmer. She had a driving desire to find out exactly where her husband came from.
According to the Baltimore Sun, Susan got on Palmer's case and was relentless. "After the baseball season," Palmer said, "we were going to stay in California for a month and then Susan had to take care of an estate for her father in Beaumont, Texas. We had the whole month where she goes, 'You know what? Do you care if I look for your genealogy and your family?'" At that point they sent away for the Ancestry.com DNA test.
Major League baseball hero Jim Palmer.
With Susan playing Sherlock Holmes, Palmer found relatives in Ireland and cousins closer to home. His first cousin Pat Moroney lives in the New York City area. By coincidence, Moroney is a big baseball fan and has seen Palmer pitch at Yankee Stadium. He also found another cousin, Helen Slattery, who knew the history of his birth parents. As a result, Palmer for the first time saw a photograph of his birth mother just this past Saturday.
At the worst, Palmer will retain his 94% Irish solution.