He had one of the greatest nicknames of his era or any other. The Cobra, coiled and deadly. Hit more than 20 homers in 1975 and 1990. Won an MVP in 1978, a pair of Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers, and played in seven All-Star Games. Including 1977, when he did this, which is one of my core baseball memories:
I'm not sure his lifetime .821 OPS and 339 homers are entirely hall-worthy, but I'm not mad at the Veterans' Committee for voting Parker into the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday. It'll improve the vibes.
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I got to see The Cobra during his stint with the Reds.
Somewhere I have a baseball with the team signatures on it. I wonder where it went.
I definitely remember that All-Star game throw as one of the "holy crud" moments of sports watching youth.
Baseball masher Dick Allen got in as well. Pity, he died almost exactly 4 years ago and probably should have been in a while ago, but he was a controversial (misunderstood, mischaracterized) player. Shame he had to get signed by the Phillies once upon a time.
Loved Parker and those Pirates teams from the '70s and '80s. For guys such as Allen and the Cobra and a handful of other veteran dudes who fall short of HoF selection due to a preoccupation with narrow, old-school career numbers criteria, there oughta be a more non-statistical gauge. Like, was he the best or among the best at what he did for a stretch? And, was he the kind of talent that people and even other players would stop what they were doing to watch? The Cobra definitely qualifies.
Also, rob and others, if you subscribe to the Athletic, Jayson Stark has a pretty good look at the Allen and Parker selections.
Love The Athletic. Well worth the (relatively) low cost. I'm off to Winston-Salem tomorrow for a conference. Unfortunately, Wake doesn't have a home game either of the next couple of nights
and tonight, the wake women's soccer team plays carolina for the natty. timing not your friend this week.
man, sorry to hear about your mom-- hope she recovers as much as possible.
as far as Dave Parker, he was a favorite of mine when I was a kid, especially since my grandfather couldn't stand his sideburns and beard and thought it was "an insult to the uniform." probably why he was a yankee fan (although Gossage got around it with his handlebar mustache)
Maybe he was just racist
What are the chances?
day three will hit at some point tomorrow. allegedly.
Slow goin' 'round here...
Downtown Winston-Salem is pretty cool. Lots a restaurants of seemingly good quality. Had some great ramen last night and now I’m having a beer at a brewery across the street from my hotel. Not mad at this little trip. It is currently cold as fuck though.
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