Dave Parker and Dick Allen going into the Hall of Fame. At least they didn’t wait until Parker was no longer with us. If MLB pitchers voted both these guys would have been first ballot.
Off Topic: Finally
- Thread starter Kasparaitis
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In my opinion both should be going into the Hall of Very Good. Neither has any business being in the same category as Ruth, DiMaggio, Williams, Mantle, Cobb, Aaron, Mays, etc. Parker and Allen were very good players who deserve to be honored but should not be in the Hall of Fame.
As a kid, I thought Parker was tremendous, and for a brief period of time, the best player in baseball, but his actions with drugs ruins the HOF for me. It's one thing to jeopardize your health and your own career doing drugs, but to facilitate drug usage for ballplayers in the National League and jeopardizing their health and careers. How does that not harm the game itself as well?
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Richie Allen finally makes it
Best power hitter I ever saw in person. Would hit a low liner soaring over the shortstops head rising to clang off the upper deck. He used to hang at the PUB in Pennsauken, I think that's the name and place.
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Agreed on Parker but he matured in later life. Richie has a problem with racism, which was justified in the end.As a kid, I thought Parker was tremendous, and for a brief period of time, the best player in baseball, but his actions with drugs ruins the HOF for me. It's one thing to jeopardize your health and your own career doing drugs, but to facilitate drug usage for ballplayers in the National League and jeopardizing their health and careers. How does that not harm the game itself as well?
Richie Allen finally makes it
Best power hitter I ever saw in person. Would hit a low liner soaring over the shortstops head rising to clang off the upper deck. He used to hang at the PUB in Pennsauken, I think that's the name and place.
That may or may not be true of Allen but you are just flat out wrong about Parker. Unless you think the Hall of Fame should be limited to two dozen players. You named 7 of the greatest players in baseball history. Who are in your so called etc? Dave Parker was the best all around player in the game during the late 1970’s, the quintessential 5 tool player. He was a superior player to his contemporary JimRice and I have never heard a groundswell for keeping Rice out of the HOF. Ask his teammates if he belongs in the Hall of Fame. The guy played with a broken jaw and football face mask for God’s sake.
In fact, they need to kick about 40 players who didn’t belong in the first place but got voted in due to who they played for or who they were friends with.
There have been worse players voted in. I didn’t see Allen play, but the Cobra did have a solid peak. Apart from his arm, his defense was pretty meh - don’t give me Gold Gloves as those are popularity contests (see,e.g, Jeter), but he had a presence and could hit. I’d have liked to see more good/great years but he made some bad, personal choices that cut into what he could have been.
That said - a part of the Hall of Fame is to help tell the story of baseball and hard to do that about the late 70s without talking about the Cobra.
That said - a part of the Hall of Fame is to help tell the story of baseball and hard to do that about the late 70s without talking about the Cobra.
I took a look at Parker's stats. Career batting average of .290. Hit over .300 for 5 of his 19 seasons. Hit 339 home runs. Struck out 1537 times and walked 683 times. MVP once and All Star 7 times. Not very impressive in my opinion.
You don’t judge anything solely by statistics. Parker should be judged by comparison to his peers as the Chicken Man stated. Who was a better player in the late 70’s? Which outfielder threw out more base runners? Two time batting champion. Two time World Champion. As I said, unless the HOF is reserved for two dozen players, Dave Parker definitely belongs.
He was actually more of a high average hitter than power hitter although he could do both. Looking at his physical appearance, yes you would think he was a pure slugger but that just wasn’t the case. I believe he led the league in doubles a couple of times as well.
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