Dave Parker

David Gene Parker was born in Grenada, Mississippi, on June 9, 1951, and grew up in Cincinnati near Crosley Field, where he learned to play baseball on the stadium's parking lots. His father, Dick Parker, was a shipping clerk in a foundry. He said his favorite sport was football, and he starred at tailback but he injured a knee in a game during his senior year and gave up the game. Also a baseball star, one of his fondest memories was playing at Western Hills High School, where he hit a home run that landed on the roof of a Frisch's restaurant. ==Playing career==

Pittsburgh Pirates Parker commenced his Major League Baseball career in 1973, when the Pittsburgh Pirates elevated him from the minor leagues. He adopted a unique approach to warming up in the on-deck circle, utilizing a sledgehammer, in contrast to the customary lead-weighted bat employed by most batters. In 1977, Parker was the National League batting champion, a feat he subsequently repeated in 1978 when he was also named the National League Most Valuable Player (MVP). During his MVP campaign, Parker led the National League in slugging percentage (.585), on-base plus slugging (.979), and total bases (340). The next year, Pirates rewarded him with a five-year deal that was American sports' first million-dollar-per-year contract. The increase over his reported $225,000 annual salary angered working-class Pittsburgh fans struggling with the declining coal and steel industries, who saw all millionaires as "pillars of greed." Six years later, now playing for Cincinnati, Parker said that hitting .310 with 25 homers and 94 RBI the prior season apparently wasn't enough for the money, with fans instead expecting a .330 average with 35 home runs and 124 RBI. Pitcher Kent Tekulve also recalled that fans "threw bags of nuts and bolts at him", batteries, live bullets—and in one instance, a souvenir bat. Off the field, his cars were vandalized, he received death threats and racist hate mail, including being told to, "go back to Africa." Asked at the time whether there was racism in baseball, Parker answered, "Not only toward Black people. I'm talking about anybody." He went on to say Black players got fewer endorsements despite being the stars of a majority of teams, and that he believed there were quotas that would limit the number of Blacks on the field to no more than six at a time. Parker's power hitting resulted in an at-bat that "knocked the cover off the ball" upon landing in the outfield, complicating the subsequent attempt to return it to play. Parker proved to be an instrumental part of the Pirates' 1979 World Series championship team and their only member to make the United Press International all-star selection at the end of the 1979 season. In 1981, at a juncture in his career when he appeared poised to rank among the game's all-time greats, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their seminal work, "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time." The authors, acknowledging Parker's subsequent success at replacing Roberto Clemente at the right field position, remarked, "Someone must have a fondness for right field in Pittsburgh." He became a central figure in a pervasive drug scandal that permeated the major leagues, involving drug dealer Curtis Strong. Consequently, the Pirates initiated legal action against him in 1986, as they still owed deferred payments on his 1979 contract, alleging his breach of contractual obligations. Parker and the team mutually resolved the matter through an out-of-court settlement. In Cincinnati, his hometown, he returned to the form that made him an all-star in Pittsburgh. At the end of the season, Parker finished second in 1985 MVP voting to Willie McGee. Parker was among several players who testified against a dealer in the Pittsburgh drug trials. After the 1987 season, Cincinnati traded Parker to the Oakland Athletics for José Rijo and Tim Birtsas on December 8, 1987. In Oakland, Parker was able to extend his career by spending most of his time as a designated hitter (DH). Injuries and age caught up to him to a degree; he hit just .257 with 12 homers in 377 at-bats in 1988 and .264 with 22 homers in 553 at-bats in 1989. He had a solid year as the Brewers' DH with a .289 average and 21 home runs in 610 at-bats, Parker's last season was 1991. He played for the California Angels until late in the season before being released on September 7. The Toronto Blue Jays then signed him as insurance for the pennant race on September 14. Jays general manager Pat Gillick signed him at the league minimum wage of $11,500, or $650 per game, with 19 remaining games in the season. Parker went 12 for 37, for a batting average of .324 for the limited action he had as the Jays' DH in the final stretch of the season. Since he was acquired so late in the season, he did not qualify for inclusion on the postseason roster and was unable to play in the 1991 American League Championship Series against the Minnesota Twins. He became a free agent following the end of the season. The Chicago White Sox were the only team showing interest in him as a possible backup for Bo Jackson in March 1992. But with the Sox signing former Blue Jay George Bell on April 2, 1992, Parker had no other potential offers to continue playing in the major leagues. ==Career statistics==

In 30 postseason games, Parker batted .234 (26-for-111) with 11 runs, five doubles, three home runs, 11 RBI, and seven walks. ==Post-retirement, personal life, and death==

Parker served as a first-base coach for the Anaheim Angels in 1997, a batting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1998. In 2012, he was inducted into the Cincinnati Public Schools Athletic Hall of Fame. On September 3, 2022, he was inducted into the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class. Parker never got more than 24% of votes on Baseball Hall of Fame ballots, and his 15-year Baseball Writers' Association of America eligibility was exhausted on the ballot. He appeared on the Classic Baseball Era Committee's ballot and was elected with 87.5% of the vote (appearing on 14 of 16 ballots) on December 8, 2024. He was scheduled to be inducted on July 27, 2025; however, he died 29 days before this took place. His son Dave Parker II delivered a speech on his behalf. Parker had six children. He lived in Loveland, Ohio, near Cincinnati, with his wife, Kellye. He owned several Popeyes chicken franchises in Cincinnati for about 22 years, before selling them after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2012. In 2013, he confirmed to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's within the past year. He was involved in raising money to find a cure for Parkinson's through the Dave Parker 39 Foundation. Parker died from complications of Parkinson's disease on June 28, 2025, at the age of 74. ==See also==