Mark Madden: Dave Parker is being honored by Pirates, but he deserves more

Saturday is that rarest of days in Pittsburgh: A time when baseball can legitimately be celebrated, as opposed to convincing ourselves it’s OK to rarely make contact with the ball as long as it travels over 110 mph when you do, even if it’s caught.

Not only is it OK, but we are “witnessing things never before seen,” as a fanboy blogger said.

How about a winning season? We’ve witnessed those before, but not so often or so recently that we have a true grip on what they feel and look like. Winning > mph.

Saturday at PNC Park features a ceremony honoring the inaugural class of the Pirates’ in-house Hall of Fame: 16 dead guys and three living. The induction takes place, then everyone watches the Pirates play Toronto. (The deceased are getting off easy.)

It’s an occasion to look back at greatness, not forward to a future that never arrives. We can also ignore the present. That’s the franchise’s main reason for what’s happening Saturday.

Related:

• Mark Madden: Pirates whiff on inaugural Hall of Fame class

But putting a pause on snark and sarcasm, the three living are getting their just due.

In fact, Dave Parker isn’t getting enough.

“The Cobra” should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Why he isn’t defies logic and stats.

His involvement in the 1985 Pittsburgh drug trials has been cited, but Parker’s career spanned 1973-91. Cocaine was the national pastime in that era, not baseball. Parker indulged in both, and his performance playing the latter made him among the time’s very best.

Halls of fame should be for great players, not a reflection of the voters’ morality. (Parker is waging a courageous battle with Parkinson’s disease. His Dave Parker 39 Foundation raises money to battle the affliction. Let’s stir that into the stew of virtue.)

Parker was an NL MVP, two-time NL batting champ, NL RBI leader, All-Star Game MVP, seven-time All-Star, three-time Golden Glove winner and helped lead the Pirates to victory in the 1979 World Series. (That was the last time the Pirates won a playoff series. That might not be mentioned Saturday.) Parker also won a world championship with Oakland in 1989.

Parker’s lifetime average was .290. He hit 339 home runs. He scored 1,272 runs and drove in 1,493. (His exit velocity was not recorded. Here’s betting Parker hit the ball hard.)

Parker transcended stats. He was 6-foot-5, 230 pounds and had a classic swing that ferociously uncoiled. Hence the nickname (unless you believe the other story).

But Parker’s arm was the piece de resistance. His two assists in the 1979 All-Star Game are a YouTube staple. How often does anybody win any MVP based on defense?

Roberto Clemente passed after the 1972 season. Parker joined the team in 1973, likely having been blocked for a few years by Clemente. Parker became the regular right fielder in 1975.

The Penguins have had a great line of succession: Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr through Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

But the Pirates segued from Clemente in right field to Parker in right field. That’s incredible based on throwing alone, never mind everything else.

Parker should be enshrined in Cooperstown. He’s better than dozens who are. (Dick Allen has this same complaint.)

To me, Saturday is for Parker more than anybody else. More than the dead guys, certainly.

Bill Mazeroski is certainly deserving. He’s in Cooperstown and responsible for the single biggest moment in franchise history and in Pittsburgh sports history: Mazeroski’s walk-off ninth-inning home run to beat the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series sealed the most monumental upset in MLB history. It made Mickey Mantle cry.

Mazeroski was a peerless second baseman: Eight Gold Gloves.

He was a great all-around player: 10 All-Star Games.

Steve Blass was responsible for the defining moment of my sports childhood, namely winning Game 7 of the 1971 World Series against Baltimore. It was Blass’ second win of the series. He would have been MVP except for that Clemente guy.

Blass was often the anchor of the pitching rotation during his Pirates tenure. He was also one of the clubhouse’s leaders and has been a great ambassador for the team since retiring as a player in 1974, serving as an analyst on game broadcasts from 1983-2019.

Blass is hilarious. He will be the life of Saturday’s induction ceremony.

Besides Parker, Mazeroski and Blass, everyone else is dead.