Dave Parker

David Gene Parker (born June 9, 1951), nicknamed "the Cobra", is an American former professional baseball player.

He played in Major League Baseball as a right fielder from 1973 to 1991.

In 1973, as a member of the Pirates AAA minor league ball team Charleston (WV) Charlies, legend has it that Parker hit a home run that landed on a coal car on a passing train and the ball was later picked up in Columbus, Ohio.

He began his major league career on July 12, 1973, with the Pittsburgh Pirates, for whom he played from 1973 to 1983.

From 1975 to 1979, he threw out 72 runners, including 26 in 1977.

Parker grew up in Cincinnati near Crosley Field, where he learned to play baseball on the stadium's parking lots.

His father, Dick Parker, was a shipping clerk in a foundry.

Dave Parker attended Courter Tech High School.

He has said his favorite sport was football, and he starred at tailback but injured a knee in a game during his senior year and gave up the game.

Also a baseball star, one of his fondest memories is playing at Western Hills High School (alma mater of Pete Rose), where he hit a home run that landed on the roof of a Frisch's restaurant.

However, in a 1975 interview, Parker stated, "When I played for Charleston I always had the ambition to hit a home run onto a moving train. I really used to shoot for that. I hit a few on the tracks, but never as a train was going by."

His first full season came in 1975, when he led the National League in slugging percentage (.541) and finished third in NL MVP voting.

At the 1977 MLB All-Star Game he became the only player in history to have worn batting helmets from two different teams—neither of them his own—in the same game, wearing a San Diego Padres helmet early on before swapping it out for a Cincinnati Reds one.

In 1977, he was National League batting champion, a feat he repeated in 1978 when he was named the National League MVP.

A seven-time All-Star, Parker won two National League batting titles and was the 1978 National League Most Valuable Player.

He was a member of two World Series championship teams, winning with the Pittsburgh Pirates in and the Oakland Athletics in.

This was in spite of a collision at home plate with John Stearns during a game against the Mets on June 30, 1978, in which Parker fractured his jaw and cheekbone; he wore a specially constructed facemask in order to minimize his time away from the lineup.

The Pirates rewarded him with baseball's first million-dollar-per-year contract.

The following year, he was an instrumental part of the Pirates' World Series championship team.

Parker was the second professional athlete to earn an average of $1 million per year, having signed a five-year, $5 million contract in January 1979.

Parker's career achievements include 2,712 hits, 339 home runs, 1,493 runs batted in and a lifetime batting average of .290.

Parker was also known as a solid defensive outfielder during the first half of his career with a powerful arm, winning three straight Gold Gloves during his prime.

During a game in 1979, a powerful hit he made to right field was very difficult to throw into the infield, because he had "knocked the cover off the ball."

One of the seams on the ball ruptured, making nearly half of the cover come loose.

Pirate fans angered by his million-dollar contract threw "nuts and bolts and bullets and batteries" at him, as pitcher Kent Tekulve stated.

A typo in a news story made it appear they threw car batteries.

In the early 1980s, however, Parker's hitting suffered due to injuries, weight problems and his increasing cocaine use.

He became one of the central figures in a drug scandal that spread through the major leagues.

In 1981 at a point in his career when it looked as if he would one day rank among the game's all-time greats, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.

The authors, noting that Parker had succeeded Roberto Clemente at the position, wrote, "Someone must have a fondness for right field in Pittsburgh."

Parker took after his Pirates teammate Willie Stargell in warming up in the on-deck circle with a sledgehammer (when most batters would use a simple lead-weighted bat).

At the end of the 1983 season, Parker became a free agent and signed with the Cincinnati Reds.

In Cincinnati, his hometown, he returned to the form that made him an All-Star in Pittsburgh.

In 1985, he enjoyed his best season since he won the 1978 MVP with a .312 batting average and 34 home runs; he also led the National League with 125 RBIs, 42 doubles, 80 extra-base hits and 350 total bases.

Parker finished second in 1985 MVP voting to Willie McGee.

Parker was also the winner of the league's first-ever Home Run Derby in 1985.

Following the season, Parker was among several players who testified against a dealer in the Pittsburgh drug trials.

Named as "regular users", Parker and six other players were suspended for the following season.

The sentences were commuted, however, in exchange for donating ten percent of their base salaries to drug-related community service, submitting to random drug testing, and contributing 100 hours of drug-related community service.

After the 1987 season, Cincinnati traded Parker to the Oakland Athletics for José Rijo and Tim Birtsas.