By Tim Clark / / Baseball, Column, Tim's Two Cents
Two

The day finally came, albeit far too late.

Dave Parker is officially immortalized in Cooperstown forever.

An obvious Hall of Fame player is now an official Hall of Famer.

Parker was inducted Sunday along with Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner, and Dick Allen.

Dick Allen also should have been in the Hall long ago. Much like Parker, Dick Allen sometimes rubbed people the wrong way. Both were probably hindered in the subjective voting process by their sometimes brash attitude.

Ichiro was the no brainer of no brainers in this year’s class. From the second he set foot on American soil, her dominated baseball. Ten straight all star appearances, ten straight gold gloves, ten straight .300 batting averages, ten straight 200 hit seasons, a rookie of the year and MVP in his first year. 3,089 hits later we can all reminisce about what might be the last great pure hitter in our lifetimes. His message was as perfect as his swing.

 

 

Wagner and Sabathia were not as obvious.

Wagner was in the last year of original eligibility. He had been close before, and finally got enough votes this time around. Here is where I stand on Wagner. If Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, and Rollie Fingers are in the Hall of Fame then Wagner has to be there, too.

Wagner was a dominant closer for much of his career, even striking out over 100 batters in three different seasons. Maybe I had my doubts about Wagner’s Hall of Fame resume because the one play I always remember involving Wagner was this game winning grand slam he gave up to the Pirates Brian Giles.

 

Kudos to Wagner for giving former teammate Lance Berkman a shout out. Sometimes a push from guys in the Hall of Fame can be the impetus to generate support. Berkman is the perfect example of close but not quite when it comes to the Hall. His numbers just aren’t strong enough, but it showed why teammates loved Wagner.

Sabathia is a top 20 strikeout guy. His career ERA of 3.74 is a tad high for my liking. He is a seven time all star, and has a Cy Young award to his credit. He was ready with a joke involving Ichiro and the rookie of the year award.

 

Dick Allen won rookie of the year, MVP, and was a seven time all star in his career. He was a career .292 hitter, but Allen lacked the number of hits a Hall of Fame player usually accumulates. Still, if it weren’t for Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, Allen may have been the best hitter of the mid to late 60’s. Similar to Parker, Allen was an all star in Philadelphia, then later in his career in St. Louis and Chicago.

Mike Schmidt does a great job touting Allen’s ability, including the 42 ounce bat he used that looked more like a telephone pole.

 

As I get older, ceremonies like this resonate. Watching all the returning Hall of Fame players get introduced is such a cool thing. Many of these guys, like Dave Winfield, Jim Kaat, Rod Carew, Carlton Fisk, Rollie Fingers, Mike Schmidt, Jim Rice, Tony Perez, Eddie Murray, George Brett, and many more, are guys of whom I have baseball cards. I spent my childhood watching these guys on TV and trading my doubles of many of these players for a new card I didn’t have yet.

Some of them look like they could suit up and still swing the bat or throw a fast ball. Others have grayed and walk with a bit of a hobble. All of them were great players. All of them helped paint the landscape of my childhood.

Brian Kenny was a solid host, and the folks of Cooperstown ran a first rate ceremony.

Yet, a guy who wasn’t there stole the show.

Dave Parker succumbed to Parkinson’s disease a month ago. It was a day we all knew was coming, yet we hoped that day would wait until after Parker was enshrined in Cooperstown.

It didn’t turn out that way.

No worries.

Parker still killed it —no pun intended.

Parker’s son, Dave Parker II, took the stage to give Parker’s speech. Never has a son looked more like his father. His son hit all the right notes talking about his days in Cincinnati, Parker’s home town, and Oakland, where Parker won his second World Series ring. He thanked all the people and organizations that helped his dad raise money to fight Parkinson’s. And, of course, he honored the family, even thanking Dave’s wife(Parker II’s mom) with a take off of one of his dad’s famous quotes: “When the leaves turn brown you always made sure I was still around.”

Parker II made it abundantly clear his dad was a Bucco. He would go into the Hall of Fame as a Pittsburgh Pirate. Pittsburgh is where Parker grew into the Hall of Fame talent he clearly was on the baseball diamond.

A month ago, when Parker passed, I wrote a column on the bittersweet nature of his coming induction into the Hall of Fame.

https://pennsports.live/columns/gone-never-forgotten

At the end of that column I wrote this line.

For some reason, though, I bet Parker is up there with that smile on his face telling anyone that will listen that he told them he wasn’t going to go to his own ceremony. Why would he give baseball the satisfaction?

I got it pretty close.

On Sunday Parker —from on high— brought the house down with a poem he had written previously in case he ever got inducted. Listen to Dave Parker doing it as only Dave Parker can, through his son’s voice.

 

There are only a few people that can steal the show after they are already gone, and nobody should be surprised that Dave Parker is one of them.

I shed a tear on Sunday, but I also smiled large.

Looking at all those legends sitting on the stage reminded me of all those baseball cards I collected —and still have in a shoebox in my closet— as a kid. Ceremonies such as Sunday’s Hall of Fame inductions always are reminders of a time long past. The fact that Dave Parker recently passed away —throw in Hulk Hogan, Ozzy Osbourne, and Malcolm Jamal Warner(Theo Huxtable)— is a thunderclap reminder of how fast time goes and how far away my childhood seems.

It was a wonderful ceremony, and I am glad I have fond memories of all the men that were sitting on that stage —even Pirate killer Mike Schmidt. But I consider myself most fortunate to have grown up watching Dave Parker play for the black and gold.

The Cobra is now immortalized forever in baseball history.

I think I’ll go look at my baseball cards.

Two Cent Takes

MLB

~Check in on my Musings podcast this week(taping early to catch the buzz and excitement of the trade deadline) for more of my thoughts on the moves that get made. For now:

  • Phillies seem unsure still if they want to go all in this year. With the age and contract status of their core, it would seem like that proverbial window is slowly shutting. Now or never? Look for at least one of their top three prospects(Painter, Miller, Crawford) to get moved. Eugenio Suarez is a bat they could use from Arizona and Jhoan Duran from Minnesota is the closer they desperately need.
  • Ben Cherington said the Pirates can not be averse to risk. No sh*t, we’ve dealt with you as GM for 6 years. That quote and the word salad that followed should make Pirates fans —all three of you— very nervous this week. Cherington hasn’t exactly hit a ton of home runs on trades. I think Mitch Keller is going to the Cubs and the Pirates must insist on AAA OF Owen Caissie. He is a power hitting corner outfielder ready for the majors. Moises Ballesteros would be a good get, too. He is a 1B at AAA and is only 21. Andrew Heaney, Tommy Pham, and Dennis Santana are as good as gone. They need to try and move Ke’Bryan Hayes, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa, Joey Bart, and Bailey Falter. O’Neil Cruz stays and David Bednar(I think) stays. I will shed no tears with any player on the current roster minus Paul Skenes and Cruz being traded. I probably WILL shed tears with the return.
  • The Orioles will be active. Mullins, Morton, O’Hearn, Laureano are all going to get moved.
  • The New York teams will be active.
  • I am curious to see what Detroit does.
  • What do the little guys like Milwaukee and Tampa do?
  • Toronto is suddenly a buyer. It has been awhile for the Jays to be in that position.
  • The wildcard this week is that some teams would rather wait until the offseason to make trades, feeling the return will be better.

~I love how Bryce Harper plays the game with the run through a brick wall mentality. Since he was 18, however, everything else about Harper spells D-bag.

 

Harper is half way through a 330 million dollar contract. He is hitting .262. He should shut up and try and stay healthy. Another example of the rich get richer and the hell with everyone else mentality. I hope the players sit out the entire 2027 season while fighting something that would benefit all of the players rather than just the top 10 percent. Oh and the top players will still get paid, just not all by the same five teams.

Golf

Do you have to be President to get one of these guys to follow you around?

 

The way I played yesterday, maybe I need two of these guys, one patrolling the left and the other on the right.

NFL

~This is a really solid answer from Aaron Rodgers. Again, I enjoy when he talks football.

 

The Weekly Shiny Penny

This section could probably become the weekly Josh Allen section. He seems to be the ultimate Shiny Penny.

 

A Penny For My Final Thought…

Last week I took my annual pilgrimage to the Jersey Shore with my son. These trips may be coming to an end soon, as my son turns 20 in a couple of weeks. Trips with dad aren’t nearly as much fun as trips with friends.

This year we started in Atlantic City, made a stop in Margate City, spent parts of a couple days in Ocean City, and the rest was spent in Wildwood.

Every year I am reminded that as a sports fanatic I never stop having sports occupy my mind and my time. Even on vacation.

How did sports find me this year?

  • On the ride down and back I listen to WIP in Philadelphia. Yes, I have old school radio in my car. Listening to the talk from both hosts and fans I would never know the Eagles won the Super Bowl. I learned that Jalen Hurts stinks and the team and its fans need a wake up call early in the upcoming season. The baseball talk centered around whether the Phillies were really a lock for the playoffs. I learned owner John Middleton doesn’t live in reality, and future Hall of Fame GM Dave Dombrowski is an idiot. Gotta love the brutality of Philly fans.
  • Taking a walk along the beach, people were flying college flags at a few beach sites. I saw Rutgers, Villanova, Temple, and Virginia.
  • Every restaurant or arcade we went in had the Phillies game on TV.
  • I shot baskets, long shots, on the boardwalk. Oddly, I missed them all. Rigged.
  • I tried to break plates with baseballs. I broke two, but they weren’t consecutive. Rigged.
  • I did find luck with the wiffle ball toss, landing two in the gold slots. Winning.
  • When we started going to Wildwood we discovered Mariner’s Arcade, a place with a menagerie of different —and addictive— games from ball drop to various coin pushers such as the Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka. Six or seven years ago we discovered that their big prizes were sports memorabilia such as autographed football helmets, baseballs, bats, hockey pucks, and much more. This year we won a Jack Ham autographed mini Steelers alternate helmet and a Caleb Williams autographed mini USC helmet. We ran out of points before noticing the Paul Skenes autographed baseball. Great place for an old guy to act like a kid.
  • Last, but certainly not least, was our usual mini golf games. Thank God it doesn’t require me to take any full swings. This year we played Congo Falls in Margate City, Tee Time, Pier 9, Haunted Golf, Golden Galleon in Ocean City, and Island Golf in Wildwood. More on these places on my Musings podcast plus more Jersey Shore talk, baseball trade deadline, and a Happy Gilmore review. For now I will leave you with my annual video(tongue and cheek people) proving mini golf is a sport.

 

Just my two cents…