Cobra Dave Parker 1951-2025

[stevejrogers]

https://wtop.com/national/2025/06/pittsburgh-pirates-say-hall-of-famer-dave-parker-has-died-at-74/https://wtop.com/national/2025/06/pittsburgh-pirates-say-hall-of-famer-dave-parker-has-died-at-74/



Will now be posthumously inducted into Cooperstown on a few weeks

[Cowtipper]

Now we know why they elected him this time around, despite him being a fringe candidate in the past.

Edited June 28, 2025 by Guest

[kcmets]

Here comes the tarp.

[kcmets]

I met Dave Parker and a few others (Sheffield) in a restaurant in the Bronx

many many moons ago. He had some gigantic hands. Huge, I tell ya.

[MFS62]

I remember when he signed his big free agent contract and wore a diamond earring. The infuriated the mostly blue collar, mostly white, Pirate fans and they threw batteries and other things at him when he took his position in right field. So he had to wear a batting helmet in the field to protect himself.



RIP, Cobra. What an arm!



Later

[Frayed Knot]

Grenada, Mississippi born (I did not know he was from there) though a product of a Cincinnati area HS so quite possibly a product of the Great Migration.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Now we know why they elected him this time around, despite him being a fringe candidate in the past.

You mean he wasn't elected on the merits?



I'm sad. I always liked Parker. Plus, he looked awesome in those Pirates Mizuno mix 'n match uniforms of the late 70s/early 80s. Those unis were made for him.



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[FIMG=444]https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/pittsburgh-pirates-dave-parker-may-30-1977-sports-illustrated-cover.jpg[/FIMG]



[FIMG=444]https://images.wolfgangsvault.com/m/xlarge/OMS06372-MZ/sport-vintage-magazine-jun-1-1981.jpg[/FIMG]



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[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Dave Jordan's bio is recommended. Paints Cobra as a kind of leader among the brothers in 70s + 80s baseball.



Fearsome player as I remember him. Big, fast, good power, good arm and a batting champion too.

[Edgy MD]

Used that arm to steal the 1979 ASG MVP right out of Lee Mazzilli's back pocket.



[media=youtube]RkCE6JHUb00[/media]

[Frayed Knot]

"When the leaves turn brown I'll be wearing the [batting] crown"

[Edgy MD]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Dave Jordan's bio is recommended. Paints Cobra as a kind of leader among the brothers in 70s + 80s baseball.

Like Journey and the Go-Go's demonstrated that a well-timed documentary can put a borderline Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame candidacy over the top, I suspect that Cobra helped make a Hall-of-Famer out of Dave Parker.

[Cowtipper]

I wasn't saying he wasn't elected on his merits per se, but if the voting body knew he was sick that was likely an impetus for the people to lean yes rather than no this time around. I personally thought he should have been elected long ago.

Edited June 29, 2025 by Guest

[Benjamin Grimm]

https://leaptoad.com/mets/clippings/00052.jpg>

[G-Fafif]

A thousand times yes on Cobra. Much of the material on Parker's post-Reds career as mentor to the next generation had to be cut for space, but fortunately lives on via mlbbro.com in three parts.



The Oakland experience begins https://mlbbro.com/2022/03/01/cobra-the-dh-years-paradise-city-the-1988-season/here.



Parker's second world championship is https://mlbbro.com/2022/03/01/exclusive-missing-chapters-from-baseball-legend-dave-parkers-memoir-cobra-a-life-of-baseball-and-brotherhood-part-2/here.



And Dave in full elder statesman mode is https://mlbbro.com/2022/03/01/exclusive-missing-chapters-from-baseball-legend-dave-parkers-memoir-cobra-a-life-of-baseball-and-brotherhood-part-3here.



The https://www.daveparker39foundation.com/cobra-a-life-of-baseball-and-brotherhood.htmlentire book is a worthwhile journey for any baseball fan who soaked in Parker's prime, but the coda is its own trip.

[Frayed Knot]

Two things I remember from that Parker/Stearns collision.

- Parker returned wearing one of those old-fashioned hockey goalie masks (the molded plastic types rather than the modern cage-style) but only half of one. It was cut vertically so as to allow him to play while covering just the side of his face with the broken cheekbone. Needless to say, it looked rather odd on a baseball field.

- one of the NYM announcers, probably Murph, saying that when the next team the Mets face arrived for the series (my memory says it was the Phils) the first thing they all wanted from the NYM media (back in those days when you couldn't just order up high-light plays on demand) was a blow by blow description of that play.



Tough to think of two contemporaries to play those roles any better than the Dude and the Cobra. And now they're both gone.