Parker's spirit shines through in poetic HOF induction speech read by son

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Dave Parker’s likeness was all over the place for induction weekend, from shop windows and lampposts on Main Street to the Clark Sports Center, site of the ceremony just outside the village.

But nowhere is it more prominent than in his son David Parker II, the spitting image of the Cobra in his prime, ready to emerge from his coiled batting stance and strike at a fastball over the plate.

“Have you seen his son?” Bert Blyleven asked on Saturday before teeing off at the Leatherstocking Golf Course. “It's a mini Dave Parker, and it’ll be like Dave is there.”

The younger Parker stood in for his father, who died from Parkinson’s disease on June 28, on the induction stage on Sunday, delivering a speech that his father had begun preparing even before his election last December.

“[The speech] was something that was in the making,” David II said on Saturday. “For a couple years, he knew it was coming. He just didn't know when it was coming. So [there’s] going to be a lot of … his points in there. You'll hear a lot of my dad’s own words in the speech.”

When his moment came, David II removed his jacket -- “Sorry, it’s bakin’ up here,” he said to laughter -- and delivered a 10-minute speech that bounced between his own memories and his father’s words.

“And yes, the fans,” he said, “you should see the smiles on their faces whenever people approached us entering Graeter’s Ice Cream or the Montgomery Inn. ‘You’ve got a lot of fans, Pops,’ I would say to him. All through growing up, my father would just shake his head, pleasantly. ‘They ain’t fans, Son. They’re friends. Forever friends.’”

A three-sport athlete, Parker excelled at football, basketball and baseball, but one stood above the rest, his son said.

“Football was his job, but baseball was his love, more than other sports,” David II said. “Baseball is cultural traditions, passed down over generations. From mamas to sons, daddies to daughters, standing on the baseball fields from Shea Stadium to Chavez Ravine, the small hot dog stands, fresh-cut grass and spilled beers in a way reminded Pops of his beautiful American career. It was a perfect America, but it was his, and it always made him feel like a 17-year-old high school catcher, watching from the stands, learning how to frame pitches like Johnny Bench.”

All weekend, David Parker II and his family soaked in the cheers for the Cobra, some sporting his jersey as they rode in the back of a pickup truck in the Parade of Legends down Main St. on Saturday evening. Later, inside the Hall of Fame, they took their time taking pictures and videos of Parker’s memorabilia on display alongside that of the other inductees.

Blyleven, who played with Parker on the Pirates from 1978-80, including their 1979 world championship, remembered the Cobra for setting an example.

“Dave was a clubhouse leader, he and Willie Stargell,” said Blyleven, whose own father died after a battle with Parkinson’s. “We kind of jumped off their back, especially in the ’79 World Series. He was a guy that in the clubhouse, maybe if we lost a ballgame, one of them would go over and turn the radio up a little bit louder and say, ‘Boys, that's behind us. Let's get ’em tomorrow.’

“I know he knows that he's here, and he's going to be up there when his son gives his speech,” he added, gesturing toward the sky.

Dave Parker is the third Hall of Famer to pass away between his election and induction. Leon Day, a Negro Leagues star in the 1930s and ’40s, died at 78 on March 13, 1995, just six days after his election was announced. (He signed autographs for nurses and staff from his hospital bed.) Eppa Rixey, who pitched for the Phillies and Reds from 1912-33, was elected in on Jan. 27, 1963, when he was 71. He died 31 days later, on Feb. 28.

Willa Allen, the widow of Dick Allen, opened her speech by addressing the Parkers, and the other inductees took a moment to reflect on their Hall of Fame classmate.

“And to Kelly and the family of Dave Parker: Please accept our heartfelt condolence,” she said. “Dave was a remarkable man and a phenomenal ballplayer. I know Dick would [be honored] to share this moment with him.”

To wrap up a speech filled with poetic imagery, David Parker II returned to his father’s words.

"My father, Dave Parker,” he said. “He passed away last month at the age of 74, working on this speech during his final weeks. Pops wanted me to leave everyone with this poem that he wrote, that he gave me a long time ago, and he said if he ever made it here to read it. So, that's what I'm about to do.”

In Dave Parker’s own words, as read by his son.

Here I am, 39.
About damn time.
I know I had to wait a little,
but that's what you do with fine aged wine.
I'm a Pirate for life.
Wouldn't have it no other way.
That was my family,
even though I didn't go on Parade Day.
I love y'all, the Bucs on my heart
because those two championships I got,
y'all played in the first part.
I'm in the Hall now,
you can't take that away.
That statue better look good --
you know I got a pretty face.
Top-tier athlete,
fashion icon,
sex symbol.
No reason to list the rest of my credentials.
I'm him, period.
The Cobra.
Known for my rocket arm,
and I will run any catcher over.
To my friends, families: I love y'all.
Thanks for staying by my side.
I told y'all Cooperstown would be my last ride.
So the Star of David will be in the sky tonight.
Watch it glow.
But I didn't lie on my documentary:
I told you I wouldn't show.