Great Baseball Nicknames-‘ The Cobra’- Dave Parker. Growing up in the 1970’s as a Pittsburgh Pirates fan one of my favorite players was their star right fielder Dave Parker- aka ‘The Cobra.’ For a few years in the late 1970’s Parker was one of the best players in all of baseball. He had one of those careers which has so far fallen short of the Hall of Fame- but his numbers put him at least in the Hall of the Very Good- .290 career average, 339 home runs, 1272 home runs. What may have kept him out is his involvement in the early 1980’s in the infamous Pittsburgh baseball drug scandal in the 1980’s. Anyway- the nickname The Cobra came because of his quick bat. I see Parker has a new book coming out- I’m interested in reading it- the name of the book? Cobra.
slicethelife 
I loved that Pirates team and I loved Parker. What a player. One of my fave teams.
that team was full of characters.
Yes and good players.
He looked like a man playing with boys he was so big.
That SI cover with Jim Rice. I always thought of Rice as a good sized guy-he looked small next to Parker doesn’t he.
Yes he does…imagine how big he looked to the pitchers.
did you ever see the pictures of him with the mask- helmet on like a goalie after he had his jaw broken?
Yes…it was bright yellow I’ll never forget…like he needed to look more intimidating.
looked it up, he was listed as 6’5″ and 230. Smokin’ hot bat while smoking in the dugout according to the photo!
they would catch Earl Weaver and Jim Leyland smoking in the dugout during games. Managers should have been given special permission!
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