Dave Parker
Dave Parker was born in Calhoun County, Mississippi, United States on June 9th, 1951 and is the Baseball Player. At the age of 72, Dave Parker biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 72 years old, Dave Parker has this physical status:
David Gene Parker (born June 9, 1951), also known as "The Cobra"), is an American former Major League Baseball player.
He was the 1978 National League MVP and a two-time batting champion.
Parker was the first professional athlete to earn more than $100,000 per year after signing a five-year, $5 million contract in January 1979.
Parker's career includes 2712 hits, 339 home runs, 1493 runs batted in, and a lifetime batting average of.290.
Parker was also known as a solid defensive outfielder in the first half of his career, with a strong arm and winning three straight Gold Gloves during his prime.
He threw out 72 runners, including 26 in 1977. In 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, and 1990, he was a baseball All-Star.
Parker demonstrated his offensive ability and strong arm by throwing out Jim Rice at third base and Angels catcher Brian Downing at home in the 1979 All-Star Game.
Parker was also named the game's MVP after a sacrifice fly and had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Parker was the champion of the league's first-ever Home Run Derby in 1985.
Early life
Parker grew up in Cincinnati near Crosley Field, where he learned to play baseball on the stadium's parking lot. Dick Parker, his father, was a shipping clerk in a foundry. Dave Parker attended Courter Tech High School. He has said that football was his favorite sport, and he played at tailback until he injured a knee in a game during his senior year and called off the game. As a baseball player, Pete Rose's best memory is watching at Western Hills High School (alma mater of Pete Rose), where he won a home run that landed on the roof of a Frisch's restaurant.
Playing career
Parker claimed that on a passing train, in 1973, as a member of the Charleston (WV) Charlies, and the ball was later picked up in Columbus, Ohio. Parker, on the other hand, said, "I always had the desire to run a home run into a moving train when I played for Charleston." I used to shoot for that. I missed a few on the tracks, but not as a train was going by." He began his major league career with the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 12, 1973, when he competed from 1973 to 1983. He started his full season in 1975, leading the National League in slugging percentage (.541) and finishing third in NL MVP voting.
He made history by winning batting helmets from two different teams—neither of them his own—in the same game, wearing a San Diego Padres helmet early on before swapping it out for a Cincinnati Reds one.
He was the National League batting champion in 1977, a feat he repeated in 1978 when he was named National League MVP. This was despite a collision at home plate with John Stearns on June 30, 1978, when Parker fractured his jaw and cheekbone; instead, he wore a specially made facemask in order to minimize his time away from the team. He was rewarded by the Pirates with baseball's first million-dollar-per-year deal. He was instrumental in the Pirates' World Series championship team the previous year.
A big hit he made to right field in 1979 was impossible to throw into the infield because he had "knocked the cover off the ball." One of the ball's seams burst, causing nearly half of the cover to come loose.
Pittsburgh fans who had been dissatisfied with his million-dollar contract yelled "nuts and bolts, bullets, and batteries" at him, as pitcher Kent Tekulve pointed out; a mistake in a news story made it appear that they threw car batteries;
Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time in 1981, at a time in his career when it seemed that he would one day rank among the game's all-time greats. "Someone must have a fondness for right field in Pittsburgh," the authors wrote, noting that Parker had succeeded Roberto Clemente at the position.
Parker used a sledgehammer to warm up in the on-deck circle (when most batters will use a basic lead-weighted bat).
Parker's early 1980s hits were due to injuries, weight gain, and his increasing use of cocaine. He was one of the central figures in a drug fiasco that engulfed the major leagues.
Parker became a free agent and signed with the Cincinnati Reds at the end of the 1983 season. He returned to the form that made him an All-Star in Cincinnati, his hometown. He had his best season since winning the 1978 MVP with a 3.212 batting average and 34 home runs; he also led the National League with 125 RBIs, 42 doubles, 80 extra-base hits, and 350 total bases in 1985. Willie McGee finished second in 1985 MVP polls. In 1985, Parker was also the winner of the league's first-ever Home Run Derby.
Parker was one of many players who testified against a dealer in the Pittsburgh drug trials over the season. Parker and six other players were banned from returning to school for the upcoming season. However, the sentences were commuted in exchange for donating ten percent of their base salaries to a drug-related community service, random drug testing, and providing 100 hours of drug-related community service.
Cincinnati traded Parker to the Oakland Athletics for José Rijo and Tim Birtsas after the 1987 season. Parker, a designated hitter, was able to prolong his career in Oakland. Despite injuries and age, he did a good job in 377 at-bats in 1988 and.264 with 22 homers in 553 at-bats, 1989, just 10 years after his first appearance with the Pirates in 1980.
Parker was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers for the 1990 season and had a good year as the Brewers' DH, with a.289 average and 21 home runs in 610 at-bats. He was also selected as a reserve for the 1990 All-Star Game. Milwaukee opted for youth, but the Angels traded the ageing Parker to the Angels at the end of the season, bringing the aging Parker to the Angels for Dante Bichette.
Parker's last season was 1991. He was a member of the California Angels until he was released late in the season. Parker was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as insurance for the pennant race, and he was limited to 333 in limited action. He was released too late in the season but did not qualify for the post-season roster and was therefore unable to participate in the American League Championship Series against the Minnesota Twins, which the Blue Jays lost in five games. Parker was fired at the end of the season.