December 9, 2024

By Danny Gallagher

Canadian Baseball Network

It was 1973 and Montreal Expos manager Gene Mauch had dispatched distinguished MLB player, coach, manager and roving pitching coach Eddie Lopat to Newport News, Virginia to check up on a pitching prospect by the name of Craig Caskey.

It would turn out to be Caskey's third shutout in a row at triple-A, a game played against the Pittsburgh Pirates’ affiliate, the Charleston Charlies, led by Dave Parker.

"Before the game, Eddie tried to show me how to throw a screwball, without success,'' Caskey told me a few years ago for my book Never Forgotten. "We were about done when Dave Parker strolled up, wearing a huge beret and sporting a big-letter murse or man's purse slung over his shoulder, resting on his hip like a saddle bag. 

"Those were a couple of 1970s fashion statements, that were lost on Eddie. Mind you, Eddie had stopped playing in the 1950s, so there were generational norms he thought Dave was messing up. His comment was, 'Look at that. Oh boy, that boy, he'll never make it.' ''

Caskey grinned when he heard Lopat spewing nonsense. To Parker, he wanted to have fun and demonstrate his fashion sense and be flamboyant to go along with his power at the plate and his excellent throwing arm.

"I'm thinking this chiseled stud was going to kill it,'' Caskey said. "Dave played 18 years in the majors and had a lifetime batting average of .290. Eddie deserved to have confidence, having pitched, coached and managed in the major leagues, but changes were shaking things up in the '70's.’’

I thought I would try to make contact with Parker through the Cincinnati Reds. Parker didn’t know me but he consented to do a chat. The Reds PR department said he would call me. I was shocked. He was very gracious.

Parker was already working on his own book Cobra with Dave Jordan. He didn't have to do an interview with me but he did. He was suffering then from Parkinson's disease like he is now. On Feb. 2, 2021, I ran Lopat’s comments by Parker.

"He was trying to make me look bad,'' Parker said of Lopat. "I didn't really care what opinion people had of me. I was a little more different. I had my own style. I was a trend-setter. I liked beautiful clothes, the saddlebag, bell-bottoms. I had a lot of things I did that people followed. Don't forget the ear-ring. I had the first ear-ring at the major-league level.'' 

When Parker was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday night through the Classic Era committee ballot, I was reminded of that Lopat story.

What did Lopat say? “Look at that. Oh boy, that boy, he’ll never make it.’’

He sure did make it. Shortly after that scenario involving Lopat and Caskey, Parker made his big-league debut July 12, 1973, seven days before Caskey made it to the show.

Parker would proceed to play in the majors until age 40 when he suited up for the Blue Jays after being signed as a free agent in mid-September of 1991.

Parker never played in the majors again after 1991 but memories abound, especially that one about Lopat.

Danny Gallagher’s most recent books are available on Amazon, ideal gifts for the holiday season.