I only knew that those '79 Pirates were funky (Dock, Pops and Parker), geeky (Tekulve), steady (Mike Easler) and came together at a perfect moment in baseball history.
For a few week in my junior year of high school, baseball was loud, proud and joyful.
Not every slight to the HOF is about race. Allen is a much stronger argument, and has to be mentioned when talking about him (Albert Belle numbers in a deadball era.
If anything, Parker’s charisma and flair, which could also be considered part of his “blackness” put him higher up in the echelon of stars, particularly for us kids, but maybe also with his peers. Looking at his bbref page the 5 year (not 3) nadir of 1980-1984, he was still an All-Star for the first two, 1980 and 1981. That’s the sign of a superstar: They vote you in even after you’ve stopped being great. Meanwhile Dwight Evans (not an “it” factor kind of guy) is sitting all-time between Tony Gwynn and Ichiro, never even being considered for the HOF: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/jaws_RF.shtml
Lots of players go into steep decline after MVP-level peaks and don’t get into the HOF (Dale Murphy; Andruw Jones is TBD; both are easily better players than Parker), there’s no shame in being in the Hall Of The Very Good
When I heard the announcement, I thought “yeah, sure fine”. I knew it was a reach, but he was iconic enough, and if not within 6 foot spittle distance from actual HOF production then probably 10 feet. But let’s not cry racism every time a black player gets inducted (when the discussion turns to Gary Sheffield, I will be right there with you), especially when Parker is an example of Blackness being embraced by baseball.
Schifrin earned Grammy nods for long-form jazz pieces like "Gillespiana" and "Jazz Suite On The Mass Texts" before he shifted to media scoring. "The Reel Lalo Schifrin" from Hip-O collects some of his best film and TV themes and cues (though it has nothing from either "Starsky And Hutch" or "Enter The Dragon").
Wow! That Mannix vid. (and song) surely took me right back to the Nixon Years. My Mom used to watch all those 70’s “Geezer 1-man cop shows”. You can’t beat Buddy Ebsen & William Conrad kicking ass in prime time!
I also discovered Sam Elliott was once on an episode of Mannix!
Excellent, I was fairly hip to Lalo, along with Morricone as 'soundtrackers' but I never saw Mannix until a few years ago during an insomniac period, it runs on one of the broadcast channels at 2 AM in LA - what a treat, excellent Lalo theme - shame on you for leaving Lalo off your list! The filmstock/processing was so pure and crisp, awesome guest stars (including Buffalo Springfield https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv9AfgdP9xU), and the cars man, the cars!
Just like when the Reds came to town, as a kid I couldn't understand why everything was so lively at Wrigley Field when they & the Pirates came to town (the Cubs absolutely sucked back then, in the pre-Harry years when it was still the Lake View neighborhood and not the yuppie-era transformation to "Wrigleyville"). As you so correctly describe Dave- they were stars man!
I remember that Star of David necklace. I actually thought Parker was Jewish.
I only knew that those '79 Pirates were funky (Dock, Pops and Parker), geeky (Tekulve), steady (Mike Easler) and came together at a perfect moment in baseball history.
For a few week in my junior year of high school, baseball was loud, proud and joyful.
I had never been to Pittsburgh (still haven’t, in fact), but I absolutely adored those ‘79 Bucs!
Dammit, *weekS*
Not every slight to the HOF is about race. Allen is a much stronger argument, and has to be mentioned when talking about him (Albert Belle numbers in a deadball era.
If anything, Parker’s charisma and flair, which could also be considered part of his “blackness” put him higher up in the echelon of stars, particularly for us kids, but maybe also with his peers. Looking at his bbref page the 5 year (not 3) nadir of 1980-1984, he was still an All-Star for the first two, 1980 and 1981. That’s the sign of a superstar: They vote you in even after you’ve stopped being great. Meanwhile Dwight Evans (not an “it” factor kind of guy) is sitting all-time between Tony Gwynn and Ichiro, never even being considered for the HOF: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/jaws_RF.shtml
Lots of players go into steep decline after MVP-level peaks and don’t get into the HOF (Dale Murphy; Andruw Jones is TBD; both are easily better players than Parker), there’s no shame in being in the Hall Of The Very Good
When I heard the announcement, I thought “yeah, sure fine”. I knew it was a reach, but he was iconic enough, and if not within 6 foot spittle distance from actual HOF production then probably 10 feet. But let’s not cry racism every time a black player gets inducted (when the discussion turns to Gary Sheffield, I will be right there with you), especially when Parker is an example of Blackness being embraced by baseball.
Schifrin earned Grammy nods for long-form jazz pieces like "Gillespiana" and "Jazz Suite On The Mass Texts" before he shifted to media scoring. "The Reel Lalo Schifrin" from Hip-O collects some of his best film and TV themes and cues (though it has nothing from either "Starsky And Hutch" or "Enter The Dragon").
Wow! That Mannix vid. (and song) surely took me right back to the Nixon Years. My Mom used to watch all those 70’s “Geezer 1-man cop shows”. You can’t beat Buddy Ebsen & William Conrad kicking ass in prime time!
I also discovered Sam Elliott was once on an episode of Mannix!
Excellent, I was fairly hip to Lalo, along with Morricone as 'soundtrackers' but I never saw Mannix until a few years ago during an insomniac period, it runs on one of the broadcast channels at 2 AM in LA - what a treat, excellent Lalo theme - shame on you for leaving Lalo off your list! The filmstock/processing was so pure and crisp, awesome guest stars (including Buffalo Springfield https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv9AfgdP9xU), and the cars man, the cars!
Just like when the Reds came to town, as a kid I couldn't understand why everything was so lively at Wrigley Field when they & the Pirates came to town (the Cubs absolutely sucked back then, in the pre-Harry years when it was still the Lake View neighborhood and not the yuppie-era transformation to "Wrigleyville"). As you so correctly describe Dave- they were stars man!
Great Neil Diamond appearance on Mannix, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyRXFd1Hv2o
Bitchin! Made my day - I haven't seen that one yet.