Sunday’s National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony offered ample opportunity to celebrate the career of Pittsburgh Pirates great Dave Parker, one of five players immortalized this year in Cooperstown, N.Y.
But Parker’s death late last month — the result of complications from Parkinson’s disease — at the age of 74 made the day undoubtedly poignant.
Regrettable was the reality that Parker, while informed in December of his election via the Classic Era Baseball Committee, something for which he long had self-advocated with plenty of support throughout the baseball world, wasn’t able to soak in a day for which he had waited decades.
Welcome to baseball immortality, Dave Parker. pic.twitter.com/9gfmBY2Hse
— National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ (@baseballhall) July 27, 2025
“He was frustrated, just like every baseball fan who knew he should have been in a long time ago,” Parker’s former Cincinnati Reds teammate, Eric Davis, said on MLB Network. “He would just always say, ‘When it’s time, it’s time.’ Unfortunately, he was right about that, in his time to go with the Lord superseded his induction, but he knew he was a Hall of Famer.
“He was glad to be able to get the word when he got it, and he was able to share that with his family. … He’s here in spirit, but we’d have loved to have him here in the present.”
All in attendance at the ceremony were also deprived of what was sure to be an unforgettable induction speech by Parker, well-known for his unabashed confidence and wit.
As he said last December upon receiving the news, “I’m looking forward to being there. I’ve been holding this speech in for 15 years.”
Instead, Parker’s 40-year-old son, David II, delivered the speech for his father, the 1978 NL MVP, two-time (1977, 1978) NL batting champion and 1979 World Series winner with the Pirates.
“Here I am, (No.) 39. About damn time!” Parker II read, as part of a poem written by his father. “I know I had to wait a little, but that’s what you do with fine aged wine. I’m a Pirate for life. Wouldn’t have it no other way.
“I’m in the Hall now. You can’t take that away. That statue better look good. You know I’ve got a pretty face! Top-tier athlete, fashion icon, sex symbol, no reason to list the rest of my credentials. I’m him. Period. The Cobra. Known for my rocket arm, and I’ll run any catcher over. To my friends and family, I love y’all. Thanks for staying by my side. I told you Cooperstown would be my last ride.”
Dave Parker II reads a poem that his late father wrote for his @BaseballHall induction! ???? pic.twitter.com/xsE3BlYsvM
— MLB (@MLB) July 27, 2025
Joining Parker in the Hall’s Class of 2025 were late Wampum native Dick Allen (Phillies), CC Sabathia (Yankees), Ichiro Suzuki (Mariners) and Billy Wagner (Astros).
Parker’s Hall of Fame bust depicts him wearing a striped Pirates pillbox hat, as Parker spent 11 of his 19 MLB seasons (1973-83) in Pittsburgh.
“Through all the individual teams and accomplishments he enjoyed during the 11 seasons in Pittsburgh, the moments surrounded by his teammates and mentors, that meant the most to my dad,” Parker II said.
He becomes the 14th member of the Pirates organization to be enshrined at Cooperstown and the first since executive Barney Dreyfuss, who owned the Pirates from 1900-1932, in 2008.
With the Pirates, Parker was a three-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner in right field.
He placed third in NL MVP voting for the 1975 and 1977 cmpaigns.
Upon departing Pittsburgh, Parker was later a two-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner (1985, 1986) for his hometown Reds.
In 1989, he won a second World Series ring, hitting 22 homers with 97 RBIs for the Oakland Athletics, while, in 1990, at the age of 39, he was named to the All-Star team as a Milwaukee Brewer.
"He was one of the greatest players of his generation." – Eric Davis on Dave Parker@Reds | @baseballhall | #HOFWKND pic.twitter.com/NHifY5U43a
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) July 27, 2025
Altogether, Parker appeared in 2,466 MLB games with six clubs (1,301 in a Pirates uniform), finishing his 19-year career with 2,712 hits, 526 doubles, 75 triples, 339 home runs, 1,493 RBIs and a lifetime .290 batting average.
In 2022, Parker was inducted into the Pirates Hall of Fame, while the Reds placed him in their franchise hall of fame in 2014.
“I know my Pops was so touched in how the Steel City fans had welcomed him back. Each and every one of you meant the world to him,” Parker II said. “Yes, Dave Parker is a Bucco. Dave Parker achieved legendary things as a Bucco, and he holds the organization close to his heart, from Bob Nutting, the late, great Charlie Muse and everyone today at PNC Park.”
