Cobra
A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood
by Dave Parker; Dave Jordan
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Pub Date Apr 01 2021 | Archive Date Apr 30 2021
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Description
“For that period of time, he was the greatest player of my generation.”—Keith Hernandez
Dave Parker was one of the biggest and most badass baseball players of the late twentieth century. He stood at six foot five and weighed 235 pounds. He was a seven-time All-Star, a two-time batting champion, a frequent Gold Glove winner, the 1978 National League MVP, and a World Series champion with both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Oakland A’s. Here the great Dave Parker delivers his wild and long-awaited autobiography—an authoritative account of Black baseball during its heyday as seen through the eyes of none other than the Cobra.
From his earliest professional days learning the game from such baseball legends as Pie Traynor and Roberto Clemente to his later years mentoring younger talents like Eric Davis and Barry Larkin, Cobra is the story of a Black athlete making his way through the game during a time of major social and cultural transformation. From the racially integrated playing fields of his high school days to the cookie-cutter cathedrals of his prime alongside all the midseason and late-night theatrics that accompany an athlete’s life on the road–Parker offers readers a glimpse of all that and everything in between. Everything.
Parker recounts the triumphant victories and the heart-breaking defeats, both on and off the field. He shares the lessons and experiences of reaching the absolute pinnacle of professional athletics, the celebrations with his sports siblings who also got a taste of the thrills, as well as his beloved baseball brothers whom the game left behind. Parker recalls the complicated politics of spring training, recounts the early stages of the free agency era, revisits the notorious 1985 drug trials, and pays tribute to the enduring power of relationships between players at the deepest and highest levels of the sport.
With comments at the start of each chapter by other baseball legends such as Pete Rose, Dave Winfield, Willie Randolph, and many more, Parker tells an epic tale of friendship, success, indulgence, and redemption, but most of all, family. Cobra is the unforgettable story of a million-dollar athlete just before baseball became a billion-dollar game.
Advance Praise
“Dave Parker gets his due in Cobra. One of the greatest to ever play the game of baseball. We get to see what made the first Million Dollar Man. He is a giant among men, larger than life.”—Chuck D, founding member of Public Enemy
“Dave Parker played hard and he lived hard. Cobra brings us on a unique, fantastic journey back to that time of bold, brash, and styling ballplayers. He reveals in relentless detail who he really was and, in so doing, who we all really were.”—Dave Winfield
“Dave Parker’s autobiography takes us back to the time when ballplayers still smoked cigarettes, when stadiums were multiuse mammoth bowls, when AstroTurf wrecked knees with abandon, and when Blacks had their largest presence on the field in the game’s history. Honest, informative, funny, sad, even at times touching, Parker’s book fills a major void about what a great Black ballplayer’s life was like in the 1970s and 1980s. I highly recommend it.”—Gerald Early, professor of English and chair of the African and African American Studies Department at Washington University in St. Louis
“Dave Parker made a lasting mark on the imagination of an entire generation of baseball fans, standing out with his unforgettable combination of swagger, style, and skill. Cobra is a memoir that’s truly worthy of his legend, filled with Parker’s insightful, hilarious, and long-overdue perspectives on the game he played, the era he played it in, and the guys he played it with. I’ve been waiting forty years to read this book, and let me tell you—it was well worth the wait.”—Dan Epstein, author of Big Hair and Plastic Grass
“This is a book that transcends baseball. Dave Parker has finally told his story, and it resonates with the strength and soul that have always made him one of the most compelling, and complicated, figures in baseball history. Cobra is a triumph.”—Ricky Cobb (@Super70sSports)
“While reading Cobra you will see a portrait of a man with amazing talent, a huge heart, and the will to be great. You will also see a man who seems to have it all but is still searching for peace of mind and love. There are highlights and low moments, excess and loss, brilliance and poor decisions, brotherhood and disagreements, joy and pain.”—Preston Wilson, former MLB All-Star outfielder
“Impossibly charismatic, remarkably candid, and as cool as his nickname Cobra, Dave Parker is on the short list of the most compelling ballplayers of his generation. It’s fitting, then, that in his new and overdue memoir in collaboration with Dave Jordan, Parker tells his story in a way reminiscent of his pair of legendary throws in the 1979 All-Star Game: it’s mesmerizing, powerful, and right on the money.”—Chad Finn, sportswriter for the Boston Globe
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781496218735 |
| PRICE | $34.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 480 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Seth L, Educator
These kinds of books were a dime a dozen in the 60s and 70s and not very good.
This one is readable from beginning to end. Dave Parker brings the ball field and clubhouse to life - this is particularly enjoyable with a team whose culture was as unique and unforgettable as the Pirates.
He is honest about his personal difficulties - his teammates were more well publicised at the time but this feels like a true wounds and all account with chapter headings based on top hits of the time.
For baseball fans of that era a treat
Thomas K, Reviewer
When I hear about the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team it takes me back to 1979 with the pirates wearing their pillbox ballcaps and the playing the Sister Sledge song "We are Family" and the culmination of their world series win. This book brings back quite the cast of characters and in particular one Dave "The Cobra" Parker. This starts with his life as a small child and a real focus of the three sport star he was in high school. If it were not for a knee injury you might be reading about what a great football player he was. It covers his time coming up through the minor leagues and into 19 years in the Major League. This is a very detailed book with many games visited. If you are a baseball and or a Pirates fan this is a book for you. Great baseball read.
Chris O, Reviewer
Subtitle: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood
As a St. Louis Cardinals fan in the 1970s, I couldn’t stand Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Parker played great against everyone, but always seemed to do the most harm when facing Cardinal pitchers. I came to like him and even root for him after he left Pittsburgh as a free agent following the 1983 season.
The book starts with Parker’s career as a three-sport athlete in high school. Recruited as a tailback by Ohio State, Parker suffered a knee injury during his senior year that eventually put an end to his hopes of playing college football or basketball. Instead, he pursued a professional career in baseball as a catcher but was drafted by the Pirates as an outfielder. Cobra focuses on each year of Parker’s career from his first season in the minor leagues until he was traded from the Reds to the Oakland A’s after the 1987 season. He played four more seasons in the American League, but those were crammed together at the end of the book.
The subtitle mentions brotherhood, and it’s clear that friendships with his fellow players meant a lot to Parker, especially the relationships forged during his time in Pittsburgh. Whether it was in the clubhouse, on the field, or bars and nightclubs after games, Parker treasured those friends and time he spent with them. He also relates how veterans help him find his way as a young player and how as an older player did his part to pass the benefit of his experience on to the next generation of players.
I gave Cobra five stars on Goodreads. For me, this is exactly what a baseball biography should be. I would have preferred that the last four years of his career had been covered in the same amount of detail as his earlier seasons, I still loved this book because it is written with Dave Parker’s voice, which gives it an authenticity that is missing in so many sports biographies.
Reviewer 635870
This is a wonderful book that takes the reader through the colorful life of Dave Parker. Reading it is like having a conversation with your cool uncle.
The book is very easy to read. Parker uses just the right amount of 70s slang to get his point acrossn without veering into parody. He describes the life of a superstar just as well as most other baseball books. But he takes it a step further than those books by having a self-awareness not found in most athlete memoirs. Dave Parker realizes he’s a flawed individual and doesn’t take himself too seriously. This attitude comes through in the book and adds a warmth and authenticity that’s very soothing.
Parker only alludes to his cocaine use. Whenever he’s talking about using drugs, he makes an innuendo and the phrase is in italics. In other hands, this could have become annoying. But it fits right in with the conversational and breezy tone of the rest of the book. After a while, I looked forward to the euphemisms that Parker would use.
This book is a great read for any baseball fan, not just people who watched baseball in the 1970s or Pittsburgh Pirates fans.
DENNIS H, Reviewer
Dave Parker was a Major League baseball player, most notably the Pittsburgh Pirates. He wasn't a particular favorite of mine before reading Cobra! And now, after reading his collaboration with Dave Jordan, I like the guy. When I was moving through Dave's story, I had to focus on the fact this HIS story as I kept mixing myself up as I confused Reggie Jackson with Parker ( same basic era, similar appearances, left-handed, bearded at times, outfielders). It was a real disservice to Mr. Parker! If you like baseball biographies, this is a great story to read. Dave comes through the pages as does his teammates, the times, and many of the.locations. In fact, I would recommend that you erase any preconceived notions of Dave Cobra Parker AND you will really appreciate this story. He doesn't shy away from issues, but he doesn't embellish any events either, which led me to a sense of this man's humble honesty.
I highly recommend COBRA!
Andrew S, Reviewer
Former major league baseball star Dave Parker has provided an unusually candid and enjoyable memoir with his Cobra: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood, co-written with Dave Jordan.
Parker's book spends more effort exploring relationships than a typical sports memoir, so much so that the label "relational memoir" feels appropriate. We learn much about the players he looked up to as a young Pirate, those that were his peers during his rise and career peak, and his adjustment to elder statesman status as his career wound down with the Reds and a few stops in the American League. But it's not just players that are important in Parker's story. Perhaps the most present character throughout the book aside from Parker himself is his agent Tom Reich, and we also spend quite a bit of time with a favorite mentor from his days as a high school student at Courter Tech in Cincinnati.
Cobra pulls no punches. While the highlights of Parker's life and career are unsurprisingly covered in detail, so are the lowlights, including his drug use and subsequent involvement in the Pittsburgh drug trials, and his volatile relationship with an ex-girlfriend. Hardly a page goes by for the first three quarters of the book that doesn't include Parker reaching for a Kool in times of stress or need of relief. He also addresses the challenges of aging, recounting the friends and influences he's lost since his playing days ended as well as his more recent diagnosis with Parkinson's disease.
The worst thing you can say about the book is that it's probably a bit longer than it needs to be. Some tightening of the manuscript likely would have made for an easier read, but Parker's an engaging enough character that you forgive the verbosity.
Any baseball fan would enjoy Cobra, especially any fan of the Pirates, Reds, or baseball in the 1970s and '80s.
Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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