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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
'About damn time': Dave Parker's emotional poem read by son at Hall of Fame induction
Dave Parker did not make it to have his day in Cooperstown, dying from Parkinson's disease on June 28, exactly one month before the Baseball Hall of Fame was set to induct the Cobra along with four other players. Yet Parker, who was 74, seemed to sense this day was coming, and penned a poem that his son, David Parker II, read to the assembled throng at Cooperstown July 28. It was equal parts defiant and reflective, braggadocious and appreciative and, for Pittsburgh, a balm. Parker played 19 major league seasons, the first 11 with the Pirates, helping them win the 1979 World Series. He went on to the Cincinnati Reds, won another title in Oakland and finished with one season in Milwaukee. Yet Parker proclaimed "I'm a Pirate for Bucs on my heart." Dave Parker poem Here's the full text of his son's reading: Here I am, 39. About damn time. I know I had to wait a little, but that's what you do with fine aged wine. I'm a Pirate for life. Wouldn't have it no other way. That was my family, even though I didn't go on Parade Day. I love y'all, the Bucs on my heart because those two championships I got, y'all played in the first part. I'm in the Hall now, you can't take that away. That statue better look good -- you know I got a pretty face. Top-tier athlete, fashion icon, sex symbol. No reason to list the rest of my credentials. I'm him, period. The Cobra. Known for my rocket arm, and I will run any catcher over. To my friends, families: I love y'all. Thanks for staying by my side. I told y'all Cooperstown would be my last ride.'' Dave Parker induction Parker hit 339 home runs and was a seven-time All-Star. He failed to garner the required 75% support on ballots submitted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, peaking at 24.5% in 1998. He also failed to earn any votes in his first two appearances on a veteran's committee ballot in 2014 and 2018, but earned 43.8% in 2020 and was named on 14 of 16 ballots in December 2024, enough for enshrinement. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dave Parker Hall of Fame induction: Son reads late father's poem
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
'About damn time': Dave Parker's emotional poem read by son at Hall of Fame induction
Dave Parker did not make it to have his day in Cooperstown, dying from Parkinson's disease on June 28, exactly one month before the Baseball Hall of Fame was set to induct the Cobra along with four other players. Yet Parker, who was 74, seemed to sense this day was coming, and penned a poem that his son, David Parker II, read to the assembled throng at Cooperstown July 28. It was equal parts defiant and reflective, braggadocious and appreciative and, for Pittsburgh, a balm. Parker played 19 major league seasons, the first 11 with the Pirates, helping them win the 1979 World Series. He went on to the Cincinnati Reds, won another title in Oakland and finished with one season in Milwaukee. Yet Parker proclaimed "I'm a Pirate for Bucs on my heart." Dave Parker poem Here's the full text of his son's reading: Here I am, 39. About damn time. I know I had to wait a little, but that's what you do with fine aged wine. I'm a Pirate for life. Wouldn't have it no other way. That was my family, even though I didn't go on Parade Day. I love y'all, the Bucs on my heart because those two championships I got, y'all played in the first part. I'm in the Hall now, you can't take that away. That statue better look good -- you know I got a pretty face. Top-tier athlete, fashion icon, sex symbol. No reason to list the rest of my credentials. I'm him, period. The Cobra. Known for my rocket arm, and I will run any catcher over. To my friends, families: I love y'all. Thanks for staying by my side. I told y'all Cooperstown would be my last ride.'' Dave Parker induction Parker hit 339 home runs and was a seven-time All-Star. He failed to garner the required 75% support on ballots submitted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, peaking at 24.5% in 1998. He also failed to earn any votes in his first two appearances on a veteran's committee ballot in 2014 and 2018, but earned 43.8% in 2020 and was named on 14 of 16 ballots in December 2024, enough for enshrinement.
Forbes
3 days ago
- Sport
- Forbes
Although Dick Allen And Dave Parker Made The Baseball Hall Of Fame, This Was Awful
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 27: A tribute board signed by fans for recently deceased Pittsburgh ... More Pirates outfielder Dave Parker who is being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday afternoon is seen before the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Arizona Diamondbacks at PNC Park on July 27, 2025 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by) Dick Allen and Dave Parker entered the Baseball Hall of Fame Sunday posthumously when they should have enjoyed their Cooperstown honors while alive and well. This was avoidable, but it also was predictable. They suffered for being themselves. In many ways, Allen and Parker were kindred souls as African American baseball players who operated as free spirits between knocking the daylight out of pitches on a consistent basis. An occassionally stale game, which often was placed on life support after the Yankee dynasty of Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra of the 1950s, needed the colorful jolt of Allen and Parker during their combined decades of the 1960s through the 1980s, but they were rebels in the minds of the naive. The naive? I'm trying to be kind. Let's get the only significant difference out of the way between Allen and Parker, and it was a big one. In January 1979, with Parker fresh from grabbing National League Most Valuable Player honors, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed their right fielder with the potent bat, glove and arm to a five-year deal worth $5 million. Parker became the first professional athlete to receive $1 million per year in Major League Baseball or in any other sport. Allen barely earned $1 million for his career. COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK - JULY 27: Willa Allen, wife of the late Dick Allen, speaks on his behalf ... More during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Clark Sports Center on July 27, 2025 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by) "Baseball was his first love," said Willa Allen, with teary eyes on the Cooperstown stage while delivering the acceptance speech for her husband who died from cancer in December 2020. Courtesy of one of the heaviest bats for a player in Major League history (42 ounces), Dick Allen won the 1964 National League Rookie of the Year award with the Philadelphia Phillies and the 1972 American League Most Valuable Player award with the Chicago White Sox. Allen also made seven All-Star Game trips before he retired after the 1977 season. He hit .292 for his career with 351 homers, 1,119 RBI, a .534 slugging percentage and a .378 on-base percentage. He slammed at least 20 homers in 10 seasons, including six years of at least 30 homers. Among other things, The USA Today said sabermetric stats showed through OPS-plus (on-base plus slugging percentage, adjusted for a player's home ballpark) that Allen ranked ahead of 11 Hall of Fame inductees of his era. 'He used to say, 'I'd have played for nothing,' and I believe he meant it," Willa continued regarding her husband. 'But of course, if you compare today's salary, he played almost for nothing.' She spoke the truth. The average salary for a Major League player this season is more than $5 million, and get this: The February after Allen won his AL MVP award, he received what was then the largest baseball salary of all-time after a three-year deal worth $675,000 from the White Sox. According to Baseball Reference, even if you consider what it called 'incomplete data before 1985' as well as the possible lack of some earned bonuses, Allen made approximately $1 million during a 15-year career through 1977. Parker played 19 seasons through 1991. In addition to his league MVP accolades, he collected 2,712 hits and 339 homers, and he won three Gold Gloves, three Silver Slugger awards and two NL batting titles. He was named MVP of the 1979 All-Star game for two rocket throws from right field, where he became the Pirates' latter-day Roberto Clemente. There also were Parker's two World Series rings. COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK - JULY 27: Dick Parker II, son of the late Dave Parker, speaks on his behalf ... More during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Clark Sports Center on July 27, 2025 in Cooperstown, New York. (Photo by) Parker died in late June after complications from Parkinson's disease, but he composed a poem to be read during his Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech. It was delivered by Dave Parker II, who looked and sounded like his dad. "Thanks for staying by my side," said Dave Parker II, delivering the words from his father from the podium. "I told y'all Cooperstown would be my last rap, so the star of Dave will be in the sky tonight. Watch it glow. But I didn't lie in my documentary. I told you I wouldn't show." This crowd laughed. Those other ones abused the older Parker, and even the crowds at his home ballpark in Pittsburgh. After Parker signed that monster contract for its time in 1979, the UPI wire service reported fans spent the next two seasons throwing various items his way such as 'a bat, a steel valve and a five-pound sack of nuts and bolts at him.' In 1983, while Parker stood in right field at Pittsburgh's Three River Stadium, he had to dodge a battery. He was an easy target at 6-foot-5 and 230 pounds. Allen could relate to the hatred. PITTSBURGH, PA - 1976: Dick Allen of the Philadelphia Phillies bats against the Pittsburgh Pirates ... More during a Major League Baseball game at Three Rivers Stadium in 1976 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by) As a 21-year-0ld native of Western Pennsylvania, Allen had to learn how to survive death threats in 1963 while playing for the Phillies' Triple A team in Arkansas. He advanced the next year to the big club in Philadelphia, where all-white teams reigned for a decade after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier in 1947. The Phillies also were the last NL team with an African American player. Not surprisingly, Allen spent his opening six full seasons in the Major Leagues – all with the Phillies -- battling racial slurs and his version of items hurled his way from the stands, both home and away. It led to the guy much smaller than Parker (5-foot-11 and 187 pounds) taking his spot at third base for the Phillies wearing a batting helmet. Allen and Parker remained themselves. That ranged from Allen letting Sports Illustrated snap a photo for its cover during the summer of 1972 of the White Sox star juggling baseballs with a cigarette in his mouth to Parker becoming one of the first professional athletes to wear an earring during games. It was a two-carat diamond. It was too much for some people. The same went for Parker's cocaine use and involvement in the Pittsburgh drug trials of 1985. So, during his maximum time of 15 years through 2011 on the Hall of Fame ballots of voters from the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA), he never received more than 24.5% of the required 75% to reach Cooperstown. In contrast, Allen was victimized by unnamed sources calling him a troublemaker and a bad teammate, and he never got more than 18.9% from BBWAA voters before he dropped off the ballot after 1997. Dave Parker gave this autographed photo to my nephew, Sam, who worked at one of his Popeyes chicken ... More restaurants in Cincinnati. I never met Allen, but I dealt with Parker up close and personal enough through the decades to know he was a Hall of Famer on and off the diamond. We talked often from the time I first began covering baseball for professional newspapers in the late 1970s through his playing retirement in the early 1990s. He later returned to his native Cincinnati, where I grew up as a teenager and where my brother, Dennis, lives with his family. Parker served for years as the grand marshal to open the Knothole Baseball League in Dennis' community, and my nephew, Sam, used to work at one of his Popeyes chicken restaurants around town. Sam received an autographed photo from Parker that said, 'To Sam. Continue your excellent work ethic. My best, Dave Parker.' I used to check both the names of Allen and Parker on my ballot as a BBWAA Hall of Fame voter, but my vote wasn't enough. It took a special group called the Classic Era Committee to vote Allen and Parker into the Baseball Hall of Fame in December 2024. It should have happened earlier for both players. 'Although he is not physically here to accept the honor, I assure you he is with us,' said Willa of Dick Allen, and Dave Parker's folks were likely saying the same about the man nicknamed 'The Cobra.' They were just thrilled their guys made it. They hadn't a choice.
CBS News
3 days ago
- Sport
- CBS News
Pittsburgh Pirates legend Dave Parker inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame
Longtime Pirates outfielder Dave Parker was officially enshrined into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, almost exactly a month after his death after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. His son read a poem written by "the Cobra" as he accepted a plaque on his father's behalf. "I told y'all Cooperstown would be my last ride," Parker wrote. "So the star of Dave will be in the sky tonight. Watch it glow." The Pirates have been paying tribute to Parker all weekend, including unveiling a new concrete baseball with Parker's name on it, which will sit on the riverwalk, an honor only bestowed on Hall of Famers. Some fans grew emotional when discussing Parker. "If there's someone who deserves to be in the hall of fame, it's him," said one fan at Sunday's game. "The way he played, the spirit, the drive, the way he drove not just himself but everyone around him to be what they could." One man from Greensburg said he remembers watching Parker when he was growing up. "What a fantastic honor," he said of Parker making it into the Hall of Fame. "He was a great player and quite a personality, and we were lucky as a team to have him in Pittsburgh." His personality was also shown through in his attire, with some fans calling him a "fashion icon," recalling the hat and shirt he'd wear, along with the time they said Parker wore a hockey mask to a game. At Sunday's game, fans left messages for Parker and his family at a wall at PNC Park. His son, Dave Parker II, spoke on Parker's behalf at the induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York. "I know my pops is so touched on how the Steel City fans have welcomed him back. Each and every one of you meant the world to him," Parker II said. He recalled driving through Pittsburgh with his father many years ago and passing billboards and installations that celebrated the city's cultural history. "Pops loved to say, 'Man, you see these legends. I see old friends. You pass a restaurant, 'I know Dick Primanti.' You pass a jazz mural, 'I know Walt Harper.'" Parker died a month before giving a speech he'd been writing for years, but not before passing a poem to his son to read. "I'm him, period, the Cobra," the poem read. "I'm a Pirate for life. Wouldn't have it no other way. That was my family, even though I didn't go on parade day. I love y'all." He penned that the Pirates will always be on his heart. "I'm in the Hall. Now you can't take that away. That statue better look good. You know, I got a pretty face, top-tier athlete, fashion icon, sex symbol." The Pirates, ahead of Sunday's game, said they would show part of the ceremony at PNC Park. The team will also wear "Cobra" patches on their uniforms for the remainder of the season. Parker was 74 years old.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ichiro Suzuki adds humorous touches to Hall of Fame induction ceremonies
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — If you want someone for your next celebrity roast, Ichiro Suzuki could be your guy. Mixing sneaky humor with heartfelt messages, the first Japanese-born player to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame stole the show Sunday in Cooperstown. Morning showers and gloomy skies delayed the ceremonies by an hour, but the moisture gave way to bright skies and warm temperatures. The sun seemed its brightest during Suzuki's acceptance speech. The outfielder was joined by pitcher CC Sabathia, also elected in his first year of eligibility, and closer Billy Wagner, who made it in his final try on the writers' ballot. Suzuki fell one vote shy of being a unanimous selection and he took a jab at the unidentified sports writer who didn't vote for him. 'Three thousand hits or 262 hits in one season are two achievements recognized by the writers. Well, all but one,' Suzuki said to roaring laughter. 'By the way, the offer for the writer to have dinner at my home has now expired,' he added, with emphasis on 'expired' for good measure. A pair of Era Committee selections rounded out the Class of 2025: Dave Parker, who earned the nickname Cobra during 20 big league seasons, and slugger Dick Allen. Parker died June 28, just a month before he was to be inducted. An estimated 30,000 fans crowded onto the field adjacent to the Clark Sports Center, sun umbrellas and Japanese flags sprinkled around. Suzuki's No. 51 was seemingly everywhere as fans, thousands of them Seattle Mariners boosters who made the trek from the Pacific Northwest, chanted 'Ichiro' several times throughout the day. A sign that read 'Thank You Ichiro! Forever a Legend' in English and Japanese summed up the admiration for Suzuki on his special day. With 52 returning Hall of Famers on hand, Suzuki paid homage to his new baseball home in Cooperstown and his adoring fans by delivering his 18-minute speech in English. His humor, a surprise to many, delighted the crowd. He threw shade at the Miami Marlins, the last stop of his professional career. 'Honestly, when you guys offered me a contract in 2015, I had never heard of your team,' Suzuki joked. He kidded that he showed up at spring training every year with his arm 'already in shape' just to hear Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs scream, '`Holy smokes! Another laser-beam throw from Ichiro!'' He even took a moment for some tongue-in-cheek modesty. 'People often measure me by my records. Three thousand hits. Ten Gold Gloves. Ten seasons of 200 hits. 'Not bad, huh?' Suzuki said to more laughs. He thanked his late agent Tony Anastasio for 'getting me to America and for teaching me to love wine.' But he also took time to get to the root of what made him extraordinary. 'Baseball is much more than just hitting, throwing and running. Baseball taught me to make valued decisions about what is important. It helped shape my view of life and the world. … The older I got, I realized the only way I could get to play the game I loved to the age of 45 at the highest level was to dedicate myself to it completely,' he said. 'When fans use their precious time to see you play, you have a responsibility to perform for them whether you are winning by 10 or losing by 10. 'Baseball taught me what it means to be a professional and I believe that is the main reason I am here today. I could not have achieved the numbers without paying attention to the small details every single day consistently for all 19 seasons.' Now he's reached the pinnacle, overcoming doubters, one of whom said to him: '`Don't embarrass the nation.'' He's made his homeland proud. 'Going into America's Baseball Hall of Fame was never my goal. I didn't even know there was one. I visited Cooperstown for the first time in 2001, but being here today sure feels like a fantastic dream.' Sabathia thanked 'the great players sitting behind me, even Ichiro, who stole my Rookie of the Year award (in 2001).' He paid homage to Parker and spoke about Black culture in today's game. 'It's an extra honor to be a part of Dave's Hall of Fame class. He was a father figure for a generation of Black stars. In the '80s and early '90s when I first started watching baseball and Dave Parker was crushing homers, the number of Black players in the major leagues was at its highest, about 18%. Me and my friends played the game because we saw those guys on TV and there was always somebody who looked like me in a baseball uniform. 'Baseball has always been a great game for Black athletes, but baseball culture has not always been great to Black people. I hope we're starting to turn that around. I don't want to be the final member of the Black aces, a Black pitcher to win 20 games. And I don't want to be the final Black pitcher giving a Hall of Fame speech.' Wagner urged young players to treat obstacles not as 'roadblocks, but steppingstones." 'I wasn't the biggest player. I wasn't supposed to be here. There were only seven full-time relievers in the Hall of Fame. Now, there are eight because I refused to give up or give in," he said. Suzuki received 393 of 394 votes (99.7%) from the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Sabathia was picked on 342 ballots (86.8%) and Wagner on 325 (82.5%), which was 29 votes more than the 296 needed for the required 75%. After arriving in the majors in 2001, Suzuki joined Fred Lynn (1975) as the only players to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season. Suzuki was a two-time AL batting champion and 10-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner, hitting .311 with 117 homers, 780 RBIs and 509 stolen bases with Seattle, the New York Yankees and Miami. He is perhaps the best contact hitter ever, with 1,278 hits in Nippon Professional Baseball and 3,089 in MLB, including a season-record 262 in 2004. His combined total of 4,367 exceeds Pete Rose's major league record of 4,256. Sabathia, second to Suzuki in 2001 AL Rookie of the Year voting, was a six-time All-Star who won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award and a World Series title in 2009. He went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland, Milwaukee and the New York Yankees. A seven-time All-Star, Wagner was 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA and 422 saves for Houston, Philadelphia, the New York Mets, Boston and Atlanta. Tom Hamilton and Tom Boswell were also honored during Hall of Fame weekend. Hamilton has been the primary radio broadcaster for the Cleveland Guardians franchise for 35 seasons and received the Ford C. Frick Award. Boswell, a retired sports columnist who spent his entire career with The Washington Post, was honored with the BBWAA Career Excellence Award. ___ AP MLB:
