I was deeply saddened to learn Dave Parker, aka “the Cobra,” passed away last Saturday following a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 74.
Along with my boyhood idol, Willie Stargell, Parker was a symbol of Pirates’ might during the team’s heyday in the 1970s. At 6’5” and 230 pounds, he was a veritable blacksmith on the ball field. In fact, for a time he warmed up by swinging a sledgehammer in the batter’s box.
Talk about intimidating. His bat, which generally weighed 34 to 36 ounces, looked like a toothpick in his hands.