Washington (AFP) – Dave Parker, a seven-time Major League Baseball All-Star and two-time World Series champion outfielder and designated hitter, died on Saturday. He was 74. His passing after a battle with Parkinson’s disease was announced by MLB and the Pittsburgh Pirates, the team where he began his 19-year MLB career in 1973.
Parker was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Classic Era Committee last December and will be inducted posthumously on July 27 in ceremonies at Cooperstown, New York. Parker batted .290 with 2,712 hits, 339 home runs and 1,493 runs batted in for his career playing for the Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers, California Angels and Toronto Blue Jays.
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Parker spent 11 seasons with the Pirates, helping them to a World Series crown in 1979 and earning the National League Most Valuable Player award in 1978. He was a three-time Gold Glove award fielder and two-time NL batting champion while with Pittsburgh. He captured another World Series title with the Athletics in 1989, serving mainly as a designated hitter.
Parker, nicknamed “The Cobra,” grew up in Cincinnati near the Reds’ ballpark and joined his hometown club as a free agent in 1984, spending four seasons with Cincinnati.
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