Dave Parker

Guide Note:

Baseball player Dave Parker spent his 19-season Major League career playing for six teams, but had his best years while a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1970s.

Fast Facts:

1. Date of Birth: June 9, 1951
2. Place of Birth: Calhoun City, Mississippi
3. Full Name: David Gene Parker
4. Nick name: "The Cobra"
5. Batted: Left
6. Threw: Right
7. National League All-Star: 1977, 1979, 1980-1981, 1985-1986
8. American League All-Star: 1990

Parker began his career with the Pirates in 1973, and began to establish himself as one of baseball's best all-around hitters in 1975 when he finished the season with a .308 batting average, with 25 home runs and 101 RBIs. He finished third in the National League MVP balloting that year, behind Greg Luzinski and winner Joe Morgan. However, Parker would finish behind no one in 1978, when he won the NL MVP, clubbing 30 homers, 11 RBIs, and finished with a .334 batting average, a figure which would win him the batting title for the second consecutive year.

However, it was in 1979 that Parker's leadership on the Pirates truly emerged, when he led the team to a World Series victory over Earl Weaver's Baltimore Orioles, batting .334 in the classic with 10 hits. After five consecutive years with lowered production, between 1980 and 1984, Parker signed with the Cincinnati Reds as a free agent and returned to his prior form, hitting 34 homers, 125 RBIs, and a .312 batting average in 1985, finishing second in the NL MVP balloting. In 1988 and 1989 he played for the dominant Oakland Athletics, leading them to the World Series both years, and a World Championship in 1989. Parker retired at the end of the 1991 season, and he has yet to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.