1984 dave parker

in december of 1983, the cobra signed as a free agent with the reds after 11 years in pittsburgh. here's his 1984 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

notice that o-pee-chee changed the text under the stat lines slightly - they used 'hit' instead of 'slammed'.  maybe 'slammed' doesn't translate well?

parker succeeded roberto clemente in right for the pirates, and was at first a worthy standard bearer on the field. off of it, the 1978 nl mvp was involved in a big cocaine scandal, becoming an integral figure in the 'pittsburgh drug trials' of the early 80's. after a few down years with the pirates parker rebounded with the reds. in 1984 he drove in 94 runs, the most since his 1979 season. then, in 1985, he put up some big numbers across the board - 34 home runs (a career high), 125 rbi (another career high while also leading the national league), a .312 batting average, and a .916 ops.

what i remember most about parker is his arm. the guy had a gun. i can remember watching him in the 1979 all star game, when he threw a bullet to ron cey at third in the bottom of the 7th to get jim rice, and then an inning later he threw out brian downing at home on the fly to preserve a tie. this week in baseball used to use that footage at the end of the show and it would give me goosebumps every time.

voici à vous, 1984 dave parker!