Cincinnati native, former Reds player Dave Parker inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati native and former Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dave Parker was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.

His induction comes roughly one month after Parker died in June after a years-long battle with Parkinson's disease.

The Cincinnati native, known as "the Cobra," is most known for his years with the Pittsburgh Pirates — for which he was inducted — but he played for the Reds from 1984 through 1987, where he was a two-time all-star. He was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 2014.

Ahead of his induction, the ceremony in Cooperstown showed a video capturing Parker's highlights and commentary from former Reds outfielder Eric Davis, who played with Parker from 1984-1987.

"When he got to Cincinnati, the charisma, the style, the elegance that he exuded on and off the field, it kind of made that a formula for young players," Davis said in the video.

Dave Parker II, Parker's son, accepted his father's induction at the ceremony in Cooperstown.

"My earliest memories are running up and down the baselines at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati," Parker II said.

Throughout his speech, Parker II talked about the various players that impacted his father, whom he called "Pops," including Barry Larkin, who convinced Parker to play for the Reds.

Parker's son also touched on how, despite being known as a Pirate, his father was a Cincinnati Red at his core.

"Cincinnati is our home. I grew up there. Pops grew up there. He went to school there ... worked at Crosley Field... hitting balls in the Mill Creek," Parker II said.

Parker II closed out his speech by reading a poem his father wrote while working on his acceptance speech in his final weeks before he died.

"I'm in the hole now, you can't take that away. That statue better look good. You know I have a pretty face," the poem read in part.

In another line of his poem, Parker also said he told everybody Cooperstown would be his last ride.

Parker was elected into the Hall of Fame in December 2024 by the Classic Baseball Era Committee. Seven players and one manager comprised the eight-name Classic Baseball Era Committee ballot, which featured player, manager, umpire and executive candidates whose primary contribution to the game came prior to 1980.

Parker, a 1970 Courter Tech High School graduate, was one of eight finalists considered on the ballot.

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Parker hit .290 over a 19-year major-league career. He hit 339 home runs and won two batting titles. The 1978 National League Most Valuable Player was named to seven Major League Baseball All-Star games. He won three Gold Glove Awards in right field.

Parker, a 2012 inductee of the Cincinnati Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame, lived on Borden Street during his childhood. In 2023, Parker had a street named after him in South Cumminsville.

Football was Parker's first love. If he hadn’t torn up his knee, he might have taken a football scholarship to Ohio State instead of signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was drafted in the 14th round by the Pirates in 1970.

Parker is also a 1978 Buddy LaRosa’s High School Sports Hall of Fame inductee.