Dave Parker, a two-time World Series champion and 1978 MVP who was set to get inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame next month, died Saturday following a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease, according to the Hall of Fame.
He was 74.
“We join the baseball family in remembering Dave Parker,” National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum chairman Jane Forbes Clark said in a release. “His legacy will be one of courage and leadership, matched only by his outstanding accomplishments on the field. His election to the Hall of Fame in December brought great joy to him, his family and all the fans who marveled at his remarkable abilities. We will honor his incredible life and career at next month’s Induction Ceremony in Cooperstown, where his legacy will be remembered forever.”
Parker, an outfielder, made his MLB debut with the Pirates in 1973 and spent the first 11 years of his career in Pittsburgh, before stints with the Reds, A’s, Brewers, Angels and Blue Jays.
During his MVP season with the Pirates, Parker, who was nicknamed the “Cobra,” hit an MLB-best .334 with a .979 OPS, 30 homers and 117 RBIs — claiming his second consecutive National League batting title.
He helped Pittsburgh win the World Series the following year and added a second championship 10 years later with the A’s.
Parker was also named MVP of the 1979 All-Star Game, and that stage also produced one of his signature highlights when he threw a runner out at home from the outfield in the ninth inning to keep the game tied.
The Grenada, Miss. native retired as a career .290 hitter with 339 homers and an .810 OPS.
He was in the inaugural class for the Pirates’ Hall of Fame in 2022.
During the Mets-Pirates broadcast Saturday, shortly after Parker’s death was announced, SNY analyst Ron Darling, who played in the majors for the final nine seasons of Parker’s career, said he was “larger than life.”
“We’re told all the time that the next guy up the block is a five-tool player,” Darling said on the broadcast. “They usually have 2 1/2 or three tools. This guy, legit, five tools. … He was the coolest guy on the planet. You just wanted to be around him. He had an infectious smile and laugh.”
It took until December, though, for Parker to get elected for the Hall of Fame, when he was voted in by the Classic Baseball Era committee.