Perrotto: Dave Parker a Hall of Famer — and Forever Pirate

Dave Parker’s long and winding road to Cooperstown will finally end in July.

The former Pittsburgh Pirates star was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday night by the Hall’s Golden Era Committee as MLB’s Winter Meetings began at the Dallas Anatole. He will be inducted on July 27 along with Dick Allen and whichever players are elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Parker had been on the BBWAA ballot for 15 years without gaining election. Three times, he was bypassed by oversight committees organized by the Hall.

Here is how overwhelming the news was for Parker, who spent the first 11 of his 19-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates – he burst into tears when he received the news.

“I don’t cry,” Parker said.

Anyone who watched the 6-foot-5, 230-pounder during his playing days knows sentimentality was not a Parker trait.

At his peak, nobody played the game better and harder. If Johnny Oates and John Stearns were still alive, they could vouch for that as two catchers who were run over by Parker in home plate collisions in the 1970s and landed on what was then called the disabled list.

Parker played the game with physicality. Nobody hit the ball harder or further, especially for three years from 1977-79. No right fielder had a stronger arm. And Parker was among the fastest players in the game despite his size.

Parker was loud off the field. He was never shy about telling the world about his greatness Parker was a trash talker before trash talking became a thing.

His most memorable line? “When the leaves turn brown, I’ll be wearing the batting crown.”

His second-most memorable line? “If you hear any noise, it’s just me and the boys boppin.’”

Playing loud helped endear Parker to Pirates’ fans. Talking loud turned them off and it is why no player has had more of a love-hate relationship with those fans than Parker.

The fans loved Parker in the 1970s when he won batting titles, made All-Star Games and helped lead the Pirates to their last World Series title in 1979.

Yet being a brash African-American player didn’t play so well in Pittsburgh back then. I wouldn’t go as far as to say Pittsburgh and the surrounding area were blatantly racist. However, it was generally felt among the older white crowd that Blacks should know their place.

Thus, once Parker’s skill declined in the 1980s, he became the player Pirates fans loved to hate. He was booed when he came to bat at Three Rivers Stadium and the home fans would throw objects – some as large as D batteries – at Parker while he played right field.

Parker left as a free agent following the 1984 season and it seemed the differences between the player and fans were irreconcilable. Things were so bad that the Pirates sued Parker to stop the deferred payments in his contract because they argued his playing ability had been diminished by admitted illegal drug use.

Now 73 and afflicted with Parkinson’s Disease, Parker is again revered by Pirates’ fans today, though.

Lloyd McClendon deserves a lot of credit for that. During his tenure as Pirates’ manager from 2001-05, McClendon pushed the organization to bring Parker to spring training as a special instructor.

That began the mending of a fence that seemed unmendable. Parker receives long standing ovations when he comes to PNC Park for events. The fans have forgiven his transgressions of four decades ago.

The one question surrounding Parker’s induction into the Hall is what cap he will wear on his plaque. Parker had some big years with the Cincinnati Reds and Oakland Athletics after he left Pittsburgh but is most remembered for his time with the Pirates.

I say that it will be a Pirates pillbox cap from the 1970s.

As it should be.