When Dave Parker is enshrined in Cooperstown this summer, his plaque will have him wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates cap, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced Monday.

Parker, a seven-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner, two-time batting champion and 1978 National League MVP, will have his plaque revealed July 27 immediately before his induction speech. He will be joined in the 2025 Hall of Fame class by the late Wampum native Dick Allen (Philadelphia Phillies), CC Sabathia (New York Yankees), Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle Mariners) and Billy Wagner (Houston Astros).

Now, the question is whether Parker will be depicted wearing a traditional solid cap or the striped pillbox cap made famous by the 1979 “We Are Family” World Series champions.

Parker enjoyed the most productive years of his 19-year major league career with the Pirates, who drafted him in the 14th round out of Courter Tech in Cincinnati in 1970. He batted .305/.353/.494 with 296 doubles, 62 triples, 166 home runs and 758 RBIs with 123 stolen bases in 11 seasons in Pittsburgh, finished in the top three in MVP voting three times and was a member of the 1979 World Series champions.

“It meant a lot to me,” Parker, 73, said. “(The Pirates) were a great brotherhood, and they were always family. I could leave, come back, everything’s the same.”

Parker also played for his hometown Reds, as well as the Oakland A’s, Milwaukee Brewers, California Angels and Toronto Blue Jays. He finished his career with a .290 batting average, 2,712 hits, 339 home runs and 1,493 RBIs in 2,466 career games.

Parker was one of 19 people inducted into the inaugural Pirates Hall of Fame in September 2022 and one of only three who wasn’t a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame. The 16-person Classic Baseball Era Committee ended exclusions that were considered injustices in baseball circles when it voted to elect Parker and Allen in December.

Pirates president Travis Williams was asked by a fan last month at PiratesFest whether the club would consider retiring Parker’s No. 39.

“We haven’t talked about whether we’re going to retire his number,” Williams said. “It’s certainly a great honor for Dave Parker and for the Pirates for Dave to be finally inducted into the Hall of Fame. I think we can all agree Dave is well-deserving and should be inducted into the Hall of Fame, so we’re excited to celebrate that with him. And we’ll certainly consider that as part of that.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)