The mainstays of the 1971 Orioles rotation were 25-year-old future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, 28-year-old Dave McNally, and 34-year-old Mike Cuellar. The fourth 20-game winner was Pat Dobson, who is often an afterthought in discussions of the Oriole staff; he was only in Baltimore from 1971-1972, and after leaving Baltimore he never again won 20 games or posted an ERA under 3.00.

Palmer — sadly the lone surviving member of the quartet after Cuellar died in April 2010 — became a Hall of Famer, but teammates McNally and Cuellar each spent a half-decade as some of the best pitchers in the league; Cuellar won the 1969 Cy Young Award, and in 1970, all three of them finished in the top five of the Cy Young voting, as McNally finished second, Cuellar fourth, and Palmer fifth behind Minnesota's Jim Perry. Though McNally never won the award, he finished in the top four each year from 1969-1971; Palmer later won Cy Youngs in 1973, 1975 and 1976.

This Reach Joe Cronin official American League baseball has been signed by the Orioles 4 twenty game winners from 1971. There is some fading to the signatures and definite toning to the ball, but this is still a very difficult item to find, as three of the 4 are deceased. This ball includes a full letter of authenticity from JSA.