WHY I THINK DAVE PARKER SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN

 WHY I THINK DAVE PARKER SHOULD BE IN COOPERSTOWN 

By- Damien 

Dave Parker was a four tool outfielder with an interesting impact on the game during his time. He was the rightfielder who replaced the irreplaceable Roberto Clemente in Pittsburgh after Clemente died in a shocking and tragic plane crash. Parker came up as an unknown and established himself as the greatest player in baseball after a few partial seasons. Once he hit his prime, he had the same impact on baseball fans then as Mike Trout does today. Dave Parker started his career in Pittsburgh in 1973, playing in 54 games. He carried a .284 career batting average into 1975, when he played his first full season. That season Parker batted .308 with 25 home runs and 101 RBI’s. He would bat no less than .310 for a season until 1980, when he hit .295. Parker captured consecutive Batting Titles in 1977 and 1978 and was named the NL’s MVP in 1978 with a .334 average, 30 home runs, and 117 RBI’s. From 1977 through 1979, he hit 76 homers, an average of more than 25 per season. In 1979 Parker and Willie Stargell led the Pirates to one of the more famous World Series championships, the Pirates’ first without Clemente. In 1981, the season was split in two on account of a player strike, and Parker slumped throughout the season. In 1982 Parker slumped again, playing less than half a season while dealing with injuries, but was a regular again in 1983. At the age of 32, Parker started to slow down, so the Pirates granted him free agency on November 7. The Reds signed him a month later and Parker gave them another lesser season of his in 1984. Parker did come back in 1985 with a vengeance, however, batting .312 with a league leading 125 RBI’s and the start of a two year streak in which he hit more than 30 homers, drove in over 115 runs, won a Silver Slugger award, and finished in the top five in the NL MVP Award voting each year. In 1987, he hit 26 homers and knocked in 97 runs but fell all the way down in batting to a .253 average. He spent the next two seasons with Oakland, even belting 22 home runs with 97 RBI’s to help the A’s win the World Series in 1989, and spent the 1990 season with the Brewers. He won a third Silver Slugger, this time as a DH, at the age of 39 and finished out his career in 1991 with the Angels and Blue Jays. Dave Parker was a fantastic hitter in a pitcher’s era but he is seemingly only remembered as one of the premier hitters of his time. He also had a cannon for a right arm. He once threw out 26 runners in one season from rightfied, which stands as the 25th most of all time and as many as Clemente could ever throw out in a single season. Because he was so skilled in many different phases of the game and struck genuine fear into the hearts of opposing pitchers when up to bat, I certainly believe that Dave Parker belongs in the Hall of Fame. 

LIFETIME STATISTICS 

Games career: 2,466 season high: 162 in 1986 led NL: 162 in 1986 

At Bats career: 9,358 season high: 637 in 1977 and 1986 

Hits career: 2,712 season high: 215 in 1977 led NL: 215 in 1977 

Doubles career: 526 season high: 45 in 1979 led NL: 44 in 1977, 42 in 1985 

Triples career: 75 season high: 12 in 1978 

Home Runs career: 339 season high: 34 in 1985 

Runs career: 1,272 season high: 109 in 1979 

Runs Batted In career: 1,493 season high: 125 in 1985 led NL: 125 in 1985 

Stolen Bases career: 154 season high: 20 in 1978 and 1979 

Walks career: 683 season high: 67 in 1979 

Strikeouts career: 1,537 season high: 126 in 1986 

Batting Average career: .290 season high: .338 in 1977 led NL: .338 in 1977, .334 in 1978 

On Base Percentage career: .339 season high: .397 in 1977 

Slugging Percentage career: .471 season high: .585 in 1978 led NL: .541 in 1975, .585 in 1978 

Total Bases career: 4,405 season high: 350 in 1985 led NL: 340 in 1978, 350 in 1985, 304 in 1986 

Sacrifice Hits career: 1 season high: 1 in 1973 

Fielding Percentage career: .966 season high: .974 in 1984 

Double Plays career: 47 season high: 10 in 1987 led NL RF: 9 in 1977, 3 in 1987 

Putouts career: 3,949 season high: 389 in 1977 led NL RF: 315 in 1975, 293 in 1976, 381 in 1977, 281 in 1983 

Assists career: 152 season high: 26 in 1977 led NL RF: 26 in 1977 

DID YOU KNOW? 

-nicknamed “Cobra” 

-won the first ever home run derby in 1985 

-was a seven time all-star and the game’s MVP in 1979 

-was a three time Gold Glove award winner 

-went 1-for-2 in his final MLB game 

-in 1979, he got a hit so powerful that it literally knocked the cover off of the baseball 

-had six seasons with over 300 total bases 

-led his league in extra-base hits, sacrifice flies, and intentional walks each twice and in OPS times on base, and games in the outfield each once 

-led NL rightfielders in games in 1977, 1979, and 1985 

-also finished second in the NL MVP Award voting in 1985, third in both 1975 and 1977, fifth in 1986, 10th in 1979, and 20th in 1976 

-finished 11th in the NL MVP Award voting in 1989 and 16th in 1990 

-was named baseball’s best DH in both 1989 and 1990 

-batted .341 with six RBI’s in the 1979 postseason 

-often swung a sledgehammer on deck

-hit two home runs in the 1989 ALCS and one in the World Series 

-won three career Player of the Month awards and seven Player of the Week awards 

-among MLB rightfielders, ranks 16th in career games, 44th in double plays, 14th in putouts, and 25th in assists 

-his 381 putouts in rightfield in 1977 are the most of all time and his 343 in 1979 rank 25th 

-his nine double plays as a rightfielder in 1977 are the ninth most of all time 

-was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2014