Pirates great Dave Parker elected into Hall of Fame by Classic Baseball Era Committee

For some time, Dave Parker’s Hall of Fame exclusion has been considered an injustice among baseball circles in and out of Pittsburgh.

But Sunday night, the 16-person Classic Baseball Era Committee deemed Parker, 73, worthy of enshrinement in Cooperstown, N.Y.

For Parker, whose eligibility to be inducted by the traditional Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) ballot expired in 2011, the announcement ends decades of frustration.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” Parker said Sunday night on a Zoom call with reporters. “ … It made me feel great. I cried.”

Also chosen for induction was Dick Allen, a Wampum native who played from 1963-1977, winning NL Rookie of the Year in 1964 with the Philadelphia Phillies and 1972 AL MVP with the Chicago White Sox. Allen, a seven-time All-Star, died in 2020 at age 78.

The committee’s vote was revealed on MLB Network ahead of the annual Winter Meetings, which commence Monday in Dallas.

Those under consideration required at least 75% of the committee’s vote, the same threshold for the BBWAA selection process. Parker appeared on 14 of 16 ballots (88%), while Allen secured 81% of the vote.

The BBWAA’s selections for the Hall of Fame’s 2025 class will be revealed Jan. 21.

Parker, the 1978 NL MVP and part of the 1979 World Series champions, spent the first 11 seasons of an eventual 19-year career from 1973-1983 with the Pirates, making four All-Star appearances (1977, 1979-81) and winning three Gold Gloves (1977-79) in Pittsburgh.

An inaugural inductee into the Pirates Hall of Fame in 2022, Parker expressed gratitude for the extended Pirates community’s advocacy of his Hall of Fame candidacy over the years.

“It meant a lot to me,” Parker said. “(The Pirates) were a great brotherhood, and they were always family. I could leave, come back — everything’s the same.”

So will Parker be sporting a Pirates cap for his Hall of Fame bust when he’s formally inducted July 27?

“Maybe,” was all he offered in reply.

Parker hit .290 with 2,712 hits, 339 home runs and 1,493 RBIs in 2,466 career games, 1,301 of which were in a Pirates uniform.

A 6-foot-5, 230-pounder who grew up in Cincinnati, Parker regularly hit for power and had a dangerous arm in right field, attaining star status in the 1970s.

Parker’s cannon was on full display in 1979 All-Star Game, when he gunned down the California Angels’ Brian Downing at home plate.

Also that game, in which Parker won MVP honors, he threw out Jim Rice of the Boston Red Sox at third base.

“I loved throwing out runners,” he said. “I (threw out) 21 one year, I had 25 another year, so I enjoyed throwing out players. And if they kept running, I would hit them in the back of the head with the ball.”

In 1978, Parker captured NL MVP after batting .334 with 30 home runs and 117 RBIs, and he placed third in MVP voting in 1975 and 1977.

A two-time NL batting champion with the Pirates (1977, 1978), Parker was a key member of the 1979 World Series club, starting 158 games in right field while hitting .310 with 25 homers and 94 RBIs.

“When the leaves turn brown, I’ll be wearing the batting crown,” he quipped.

Departing Pittsburgh for the Cincinnati Reds after the 1983 campaign, Parker earned two more All-Star selections in 1985 and 1986, winning a pair of Silver Sluggers while finishing as NL MVP runner-up in 1985.

Parker, whose career spanned 1973-91, first received MVP votes in 1975 at the age of 24. In 1990 with the Milwaukee Brewers, Parker won a Silver Slugger, was an All-Star and placed 16th in the MVP voting at age 39.

In 1989, he won a second World Series ring with the Oakland Athletics.

Parker’s trademark swagger and confidence were on full display Sunday after receiving news of his induction.

What did he remember from his days with the Reds?

“I was the best player they had.”

How did he feel he impacted the Athletics after joining the club as a 37-year-old veteran?

“I taught them how to win — they didn’t know how to win. They had all that thunder and didn’t know how to win.”

Reflecting on his playing days and all the years of waiting, Parker was adamant about what his legacy should be.

“I want to be remembered as a guy that threw it all on the field,” he said. “… I played like it should be played — hard.”