Old School Cool Gets Nominated
Baseball Legend Dave "The Cobra" Parker Nominated for Hall of Fame
Halls of Fame can be so arbitrary. Who “deserves” to be in and who doesn’t is the stuff barbershop discussions are made of. And while I am pretty liberal on who should be honored, it kind of blew my mind that baseball legend Dave Parker wasn’t already in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Though he played for a half dozen teams, he’s best known as a Pittsburgh Pirate, during the swanky “pillbox hat” era. Anyway, here’s the stats and info:
Bam. Numbers check out. Accolades check out. Thanks for reading this edition of The Sandwich, y’all!
Of course, I jest. You see, what made Dave Parker special was not only his contribution to the game via “the numbers,” but rather he was emblematic of the kind of “cool” baseball critics forget existed in the sport pre-1990s. Can’t say I was around for Parker’s heyday, but every time I see something posted about him or a clip from his games, I go damn that’s smooth.
Man lived his life like a series of album covers. The above pic looks like he’s about to destroy you with an entire diss track EP. And the pic below looks like he’s about to have your aunties throw their panties on stage. No wonder they called him The Cobra.
When people tell me they aren’t into baseball because its boring, I don’t usually push back anymore. There is a “hard barrier” for new or lapsed fans to cross over in order to enjoy the nuances of the game. A lot of the strength of that barrier was due to an emphasis for players to be as vanilla as possible. (“Put your head down and act like you been there, kid”) Parker came from an era when you could be amazing at what you do and still be uniquely you. Check out this clip for a second.
Man’s chilling with a 37 ounce bat (most people use one that’s 31-33 ounces), chewing gum, looking absolutely unbothered when he’s rounding them bases. Just effortless. You know who DOESN’T look cool holding a bat?
I’ll give you three guesses.
And he was a STAR too, man. Just the second man in baseball history to earn north of $1 million a year for his services (5 years, $5million), Parker was on top of the world. And it’s funny, because in some circles he’s already falling into obscurity. Not saying a Hall of Fame induction is going to save that, but maybe a new generation of fans can get to learn more about a guy who had the aura of “Show up. Put in the Work. Get Paid” from way back when.
Bam. Another album cover.
We won’t know if Parker gets into the Hall of Fame until next month, but it would be a shame if he didn’t.
If he does get in, I bet that would be the best album cover of all.