| kailes2872 |
07-25-2025 07:07 PM |
3 Attachment(s)
Dave Parker was a super hero to me as a kid. I was born in '72 and while I vaguely remember Reggie hitting 3 homers in '77, I don't remember a thing from '78. The '79 all-store game was my initiation into baseball as I was just starting to get interested in collecting. I read as much as I could on him after that game and quickly found that he was one of the best of the best in baseball and had been the MVP the prior year. I remember reading that he was over 10 pounds as a baby and a truant officer once mistakenly thought he was skipping school because he was big for his age.
I liked that Pirates team with Willie and the boys. I grew up near Indianapolis Indiana so I was a reds fan by default. With the afterglow of the Big Red machine, they were on the radio daily in the market. Coming into my fandom in the early '80's felt a bit like a day late and dollar short as those early '80's Reds teams were consistently behind the Dodgers and Astros.
When they got Parker in '84, I was fired up, but he seemed like he was on the back side of his career - and the Reds had just moved on from a bunch of really good players on the back side of their career. He was awesome for those 3 years. I am still convinced that he was the MVP in '85 over McGee. I liked the way he did the cobra snap with his glove - even though sometimes the ball would slip out of his glove and lead to a 2 base error. It was just cool.
As fate would have it, we relocated to the Pittsburgh market in 2000 and have been here ever since. Over time, we have evolved to being primarily Pirates fans. They are the local team on TV. The kids pretty much grew up at PNC park in the company box or the 4 seats by 1st base in the lower level.
In late 2014, due to my employer at the time being long-time season ticket and suite holders, we got complimentary passes to Pirate Fest - their off season event for season ticket holders where coaches and former players do meat and greets and Q&A. During this, there are also autograph booths set up for those who want to wait 2-3 hours for a nice auto of a former Pirate player - normally 2nd - 3rd tier type guys - but nice nonetheless.
I was with the boys and we had been there for a few hours. We started making our way to the exit. On the way, Conner (my oldest) almost ran into Dave Parker. Conner always kept a ball and pen on him He did yard work for the former Asst GM of the Orioles and Brian gave him a bucket of MLB balls. He would always have it on hand in case he ran into someone. He looks up and sees that it is Parker and immediately asked for an autograph. Parker says "I am walking over there right now to sign, but sure kid." He signs Conner's ball and then pushes his brother Cameron toward Dave and asks if Dave will sign for him Cameron was 12 at the time and a much more reserved version of his brother. He would have never asked for himself. Dave looks up and sees people starting to gather, signs Cam's ball and makes a B-Line for the line that was at least 2 hours deep. As a dad who saw Parker as a Paul Bunyon like figure when I was 7, this was full circle. Parker could have just told the kids to go get in line and he would sign like everyone else, but he took the time. The boys have that baseball in a ball/card combo with his '83 Topps card.
Folks like to give Ted Williams for his WW2 and Korean War stats. I tend to give Parker credit for 80-83 which, if the trajectory from 77 to 86 stayed linear (and without the substance issues), he probably has closer to 450 homer (I tend to round up). I was hoping that he would be able to speak at his induction, but at least he got the joy of finding out that he was selected.
|
