Do you remember back when the off-season was interesting? When we would get news to talk about? When the Jays would sign players and give us stuff to talk about and, you know, hope for the future?
No, me neither.
Dave Parker is on the Classic Baseball Era Non-Players Committee Ballot (or, as it is well known as, the CBENPCB).
Parker played 19 seasons in the MLB for the Pirates (11 seasons), Reds (4), A’s (2), Brewers (1) and most of a season with the Angels, with 13 games as a Blue Jay to end his career.
He hit .290/.339/.471 with 339 home runs, 2712 hits and a 40.1 bWAR.
Parker won one MVP award, picked up votes eight other times (finishing second once and third twice), and made seven All-Star teams, three Gold Gloves, and three Silver Sluggers.
Defensively, he had one of the best arms you would ever see in right field. He had speed and good range but also led the NL in errors as an outfielder several times.
He made the playoffs five times and owns two World Series rings. In 30 playoff games, he hit .234/.287/.360.
Dave’s bWAR values exceeded 6.0 four times, topping out at 7.4, and he had 4.7 and 3.7. The rest of his career, he never had a season over 2.0.
His peak was as good as anyone’s. From 1975 to 1979, he had 31.1 WAR over five seasons. If you watched him during that time, you would have thought he was a future first-ballot Hall of Famer.
I didn’t realize his peak was so short. He was a top-five player in baseball, and then he suddenly became average.
What changed? Quite possibly, it was cocaine that changed things. Cocaine was the drug of the late 70s and early 80s. If you were of the right age and had too much money, odds are cocaine was around you. Parker was known to have used, and he introduced his dealer to the rest of the Pirates. The Pirates were one of the best teams in baseball in the 70s and were one of the worst teams in the 80s.
Now, that might not have been because of the drugs. Many teams had the same issue. But from age 24 to 28, Parker was one of the three or four best players in baseball. At age 28, he had a 6.7 bWAR. At age 29, it was 1.6. Then it was 0.0, 0.6, 0.2, and 1.0.
Maybe there were injuries, but, other than a 4.7 at age 34 he was never above 1.1 any season in his 30s.
Back in that time, some managers were quick to rid their teams of players who they suspected of using. Whitey Herzog would trade players for pennies on the dollar if he thought they used. And some turned a blind eye to it. Chuck Tanner, who managed the Pirates then, was one of the latter.
Anyway…..
He had a much shorter peak than I thought he did.
Parker was on the Hall of Fame ballot 15 times, peaking at 24.5% of the vote on his second time. He was also on the Veterans Committee ballot three times.
Parker’s career numbers are here.
Here is an example of Parker’s arm: