Baseball Time Machine: Dave Parker

DAVE PARKER

Parker died on Saturday, less than three weeks after his 74^th birthday.

Parker was born in Missouri, but moved to Cincinnati when he was five and the family lived a short walk from Crosley Field. He later recalled, “Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson would come and I’d be, waiting for them. And, believe it or not, they were always nice to me. They’ve come out and give me a glove or a ball.” As a teenager, Parker was a vendor in the ballpark.

Parker was a star in football, basketball and baseball at Courter Technical High School in Cincinnati. He said “Football was my first love. I loved it because it’s a contact game. I liked to run over people.” He made first team all-Public High School League honors as a running back in his junior year in 1968 and had more than 60 colleges football teams, including many of the major powers, contacting him. But, a left knee injury in the first quarter of the opener in his senior year ended his football career. He needed surgery the day after Thanksgiving and had to focus his attention on baseball.