Earlier this summer, when Jim Palmer was suddenly absent from the TV broadcast booth for weeks, thousands of Orioles fans must have had the same reaction. “Where’s Jim? Is he OK?” Because, let’s face it, summer days and nights over the last 40 years have always been better when Jim Palmer is calling the Orioles.

In fact, it turned out that Palmer, 78, was receiving treatment for skin cancer, and he now seems healthy again. But that scare should make us all reflect on what an unbelievable treasure Jim Palmer the announcer, and Jim Palmer the person, has been to the fans of the Orioles and the entire Baltimore region for more than a half-century.

Of course, he’s the greatest and most popular pitcher in Orioles franchise history, and one of the greatest of his era, as his classic statue beyond the center field wall at Camden Yards attests. But for my money, Jim Palmer is also the most talented, entertaining and learned television analyst of baseball games in the last four decades. In our region, and even nationally, there has never been a better teacher about baseball, how to understand it, enjoy it and indeed, to love it.

His on-air persona has never changed — upbeat but calm, with movie-star good looks and a pleasant voice that famously made him a top TV advertising pitchman after his on-field career was over. Yet Palmer doesn’t have a drop of self-importance or showiness in his 6 foot 3 frame, despite his intensely analytic baseball mind. And he is often hilariously funny.

Teasing young announcer Kevin Brown, who was unfairly suspended last year for simply saying that the Orioles had often lost in Tampa Bay, Palmer praised the O’s first-ever four-game sweep at Tampa. Then turning to Brown with a warm smile, he kidded that the Orioles in Tampa Bay “used to have trouble, as you know, winning.” Even Brown had to laugh.

Palmer can also be wonderfully droll. When earlier this year the O’s had four extra-base hits in quick succession, he noted “It’s a good couple of innings for the bartenders in the park — two triples, then two doubles.”

Perhaps most of all, Palmer exudes a deep appreciation for the limitless variety of personalities, dramatic situations and sheer athletic beauty that baseball always seems to afford. Time and again he illustrates what an intensely human game baseball is — how it reveals the best of human nature striving for excellence and yet accepting inevitable failures.

And his ability to instantly recall specific situations from 60 years in baseball is legendary, a memory that is a source of wonder to fans and the envy of fellow broadcasters everywhere.

This summer against the Athletics, playing their last season at the fabled but frumpy Oakland Coliseum, Palmer noted that the A’s hit five home runs during Saturday’s day game, while on Sunday afternoon the O’s hit two more in the first inning.

“Yeah, I know something about home runs in this ballpark — the ball flies here during the day. I gave up three solo home runs in a playoff game that we still won — Reggie Jackson hit two off me down the left-field line.”

Analyzing pitching, he is peerlessly incisive, yet adamant that the simplest things are most important. “Pitching, not throwing. Fast ball command. Changing speeds. Keeping hitters off-balance. Using both sides of the plate. Pitching to your defense. Not being afraid of contact. Avoiding free passes. Those are the things that matter. Oh, and avoiding the long ball.”

This August, when the bases were loaded with none out against the Mets while calling a game from Flushing Meadows in New York, he noted the site of the U.S. Open tennis championship was right next door: “Baseball and pitching are like tennis — you have to play the big points, the really big situations, very well in order to win.”

Talking about surprising starter Albert Suárez, Palmer observed “he can be a little bit wild, but I know something about being effectively wild,” a twinkle in the eye as Palmer looked into the camera. “You can actually pitch around the strike zone and still make good pitches when you need to.” So typical of him — humility and humor in the service of teaching us mere mortals about the sacred game of baseball.

Of course, there have been other great baseball analysts, historical figures like Tim McCarver in the 90s and 2000s, and now Ron Darling, another former pitcher, who often broadcasts for the Mets. And the Orioles’ own big Ben McDonald has proven to be a terrific commentator. But none of them has quite the magic of Jim Palmer.

As he said recently about a tailor-made double play turned by the Orioles: “4 to 6 to 3, see how easy it can be.” It’s easy for Jim Palmer because he’s the most natural, knowledgeable, likable and enjoyable baseball explainer I’ve ever heard. And my guess is hundreds of thousands of Orioles fans also know just how lucky we have been to have him for so many endless summers.

Paul Bledsoe (X: @paulbledsoe) is an Orioles fan from Arlington, Virginia.