Dace Parker passed away today after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 74.
Parker, the Hall of Fame outfielder nicknamed “The Cobra,” spent 19 seasons in Major League Baseball and ranked among the game’s best at his peak with the Pirates in the late 1970s.
Parker played for the Pirates from 1973 through 1983. He also played for the Reds, A’s, Brewers, Blue Jays and Angels, with his career ending in 1991.
Parker won the 1978 National League MVP Award, two World Series championships a decade apart, back-to-back NL batting titles, three Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, seven All-Star nods, the ’79 All-Star Game MVP Award and MLB’s first Home Run Derby title in ‘85.
Parker’s career included 2,712 hits with a .290 batting average, 339 homers and 1,493 RBI from 1973-91.
Parker will be posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, July 27, in Cooperstown, N.Y.
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