Hall Of Fame Pitcher Jim Palmer Selling His Cy Young And Gold Glove Awards To Help Autistic Stepson

Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer recently announced that he has listed all three of his Cy Young Awards and two of his four Gold Glove Awards up for auction in an attempt to raise money for his autistic stepson that will need care for the rest of his life, reports the AP.

Palmer didn’t say that he or his family was hurting for money, but instead realizes that there are more important things in life than awards sitting on a shelf.

”At this juncture of my life, I would rather concern myself with the education of my grandchildren,” Palmer said.

”I also have a stepson, (15-year-old) Spencer, who is autistic and will need special care for the rest of his life. My priorities have changed.”

A portion of the profits will also be donated to the autism project of Palm Beach County.

According to MSN, Palmer goes on to say that he’ll always have the memories of the moments that helped earn him those awards, and those memories are what is most important to him when thinking about his baseball career.

”You can’t erase the memories of 1973 or 1975 when I came back from my arm injury, when I had 10 shutouts and had to win the last day of the year to beat Catfish Hunter to win a Cy Young and get the ERA down to 2.09,” he said.

”To me, those are things that happened in the past. I’m really lucky to remember all of them. Whether I have the awards or not, it’s not going to take those memories away.”

Hunt Auctions will be responsible for auctioning off the Cy Young Awards that Palmer won in 1973, 1975 and 1976, as well as the Gold Gloves he earned in 1976 and 1979.

The Cy Young Awards expected to go for anywhere between $60,000-$80,000 and the Gold Gloves to reach $15,000 a piece. Hunt Auctions will be accepting phone and online bids through July 8th, with the live auction taking place July 10th.

What do you think of Jim Palmer selling his Cy Young and Gold Glove Awards to benefit his autistic stepson?