A full 29 years after he became eligible, and 14 years after his initial eligibility expired, Pittsburgh Pirates legend Dave Parker was finally voted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame by the Classic Baseball Era committee last December. But sadly, the seven-time All-Star has died, his passing announced on Saturday just 30 days before he is set to be inducted into the Hall.
Parker, a two-time National League batting champion and 1978 NL MVP, was 74 years old. He played 19 seasons in the Major Leagues, from 1973 through 1991.
The circumstances and cause of his death were not revealed, but he had been fighting a long battle against Parkinson’s disease after being diagnosed with the progressive neurological disorder in 2012.
A Career Marred by Biggest MLB Scandal of the ’80s
Born on June 9, 1951, Parker is best remembered as a member of the 1979, Pirates “We Are Family” team that defeated the Baltimore Orioles in seven games to win only the four and, to date, last championship in the team’s 135-year history.
“The Cobra,” as he was known, was also one of the most controversial players of his era mainly due to his admission of heavy cocaine use under oath in a highly-publicized trial of alleged drug dealer Curtis Strong.
Parker was one of several Major Leaguers implicated in the 1980s cocaine scandal that rocked baseball, but his admission appears to have been a deciding factor in keeping him out of the Hall of Fame. Despite being on the Baseball Writers of America ballot for 15 years, he never received more than 24.5 percent of the vote, with 75 percent required to get into the Hall.
Parker also found himself on the outs with fans when, after his MVP season, he signed a five-year, $5 million contract with the Pirates, making him the highest-paid player in the game at that time and the first in MLB to receive an average salary of $1 million per year.
In that era when free agency was still in its infancy, many fans were bitterly resentful of the rapidly rising salaries handed out to MLB players â especially when the players were black. Parker received numerous racist “fan” letters and postcards â which Parker said that he saved as a source of “inspiration.”
In one frightening incident a spectator at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium hurled a battery at Parker as he played right field, the object coming so close to his head that Parker said he could hear the sound it made as it flew by.
Cobra Makes Comeback in ’85
Parker’s performance steadily dropped through the early ’80s, until he staged a comeback in 1985 with the Cincinnati Reds, leading the NL in RBIs and doubles and finishing with a .312 batting average, his first .300 average since 1979. He earned his fifth All-Star selection in ’85, following it with two more, in 1986 and finally in 1990 when he was a designated hitter for the Milwaukee Brewers.
An imposing figure at 6-foot-5, 230 pounds, Parker was also the primary DH for the Oakland A’s in 1989, hitting 22 home runs while driving in 97, though he finished the season with a respectable but modest .741 OPS at age 38.
He also won his second World Series ring that year with the A’s, when they swept the San Francisco Giants in a “Bay Bridge Series,” interrupted by the Loma Prieta Earthquake which struck an hour before Game Three. The series was shut down and not resumed for another 10 days.
Parker retired after the 1991 season, wrapping up his career with a .290 batting average, 339 home runs â 112th in MLB history â and 1,493 RBIs, 58th all-time.
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