Cobra: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood

by Dave Parker, Dave Jordan

Finalist for the 2021 CASEY Award for Best Baseball Book of the Year

“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.

 

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Biography, Nonfiction, Memoir, History, Biography Memoir

480 pages, Hardcover

Published April 1, 2021

About the author

David Gene Parker, nicknamed "the Cobra", was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right fielder from 1973 to 1991. A seven-time All-Star, Parker won two National League batting titles and was the 1978 National League Most Valuable Player. He was a member of two World Series championship teams, winning with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979 and the Oakland Athletics in 1989.
Parker was the second professional athlete to earn an average of $1 million per year, having signed a five-year, $5 million contract in January 1979. Parker's career achievements include 2,712 hits, 339 home runs, 1,493 runs batted in, and a lifetime batting average of .290. Parker was also known as a solid defensive outfielder during the first half of his career with a powerful arm, winning three straight Gold Gloves during his prime. From 1975 to 1979, he threw out 72 runners, including 26 in 1977. In 2025, Parker was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He died 29 days before he was to be inducted.

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last week I noted that I thought I had read my last baseball book of the year. With frost on the ground and another three (three!) months until there are baseball games that count, I find myself pining for the new season. My team has the potential to be better than last year, so that is part of it. I make no secret of my relationship with winter; there’s something about that as well. I pinpoint the main reason is that baseball has been a part of my life since day one. I am a World Series baby, born smack dab in the middle of the 1979 We are Family Pittsburgh Pirates championship, cementing me as a fan for life. Even though the Pirates are division rivals, I hold a special place in my heart for that team because they started me on my fan journey, although I hardly knew it at the time. A few years ago a member of the baseball book club noted that he had a new book coming soon, collaborating with longtime member of the Pirates and Reds Dave Parker on his memoir. The book received acclaim and got nominated for a Casey Award, but I could not find a copy at my library because Dave Parker is a Cincinnati guy and chose to make my neck of the woods his forever home. Everyone needed to read Cobra so I read other baseball books at the time. A few weeks ago, Dave Parker got inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee. This time around, my library put Cobra on display, proud of its native son. Timely, I decided to make Cobra my “last” baseball book of the year.

Dave Parker comes from an integrated section of Cincinnati. He noted that the city did not become known as a black city until after World War II when African Americans moved to Ohio as part of the second wave of the Great Migration. I have only lived in the Queen City during the 21st century and see the area as multicultural, but the city used to be primarily black and white in various pockets. Parker’s parents valued education for their five children and lived in an integrated part of town. Parker notes that his school Courter Tech was a practically a fifty-fifty split, and, other than a few marches during his junior year, the school was chill on matters of race. Parker and his buddies were all three sport stars, and he noted that football was his first love. Seeing running backs like Jim Brown on television made him long to play at Ohio State or Penn State and then in the pros. A knee injury derailed dreams in two of three sports. Guidance counselor Helen Kugel encouraged Parker to keep those grades up so that he could get into college, but even she overlooked the fact that Parker, or DP to his friends, still owned the baseball diamond. He and friend attended a tryout for the Pirates before the end of their senior year, and the Pirates drafted Parker as part of their 1969 class. He promised to one day buy his parents a house and thought that he was on his way to stardom.

The majority of Cobra covers Parker’s years on the 1970s Pirates Lunber Company Teams. They were in his words the most chill organization in baseball for people of color, and after the dawn of free agency all big name minority players wanted to come to Pittsburgh. After reading August Wilson’s Century Cycle of plays, I knew that Pittsburgh was another destination for African Americans during the Great Migration. The city remained de facto segregated but African Americans saw success in the city. It comes as little surprise to me that, along with the success of the Steelers, that black players wanted to come to Pittsburgh. It was the era of Afros and soul music in the club house. Lead by Pops Stargell, the Pirates challenge for a division title every year in the 1970s. Aside from Ol Scraps Phil Garner, the Pirates fielded a primarily minority team. Over time, Stargell named Parker his co-leader on the team and gave him the moniker Cobra after Cincinnati native boxer Ezzard Charles (note- I have lived in Cincinnati for seventeen years and know where Ezzard Charles Road is, but this is the first time I learned who he was). Behind Stargell and Manny Sanguillen, Parker flourished in Pittsburgh. As the Cobra he was fearless and gave 110% in every game. Hits, power, and the best arm in the majors from right field, Parker, or Parkway among his baseball breathren, was among the top players in baseball for the second half of the 1970s, earning the National League’s 1978 MVP award. In the early days of free agency and ironing out the system, Parker was about to get paid and then some.

Parker details his friendships with teammates like Larry Demery, Stargell, John Milner, Bill Madlock, and the one and only Dock Ellis. His anecdotes about Dock made this book. The story of Dock’s no hitter that he pitched for the Yankees and the circumstances behind it are unfortunately not in this memoir. Parker does note that Dock and many of his baseball family have been taken away too soon. In the 1970s no one thought about what cigarettes, drinking, and drugs would do to one’s body. It was the era of being free to be you and me. After the We are Family team won a classic seven game World Series against the Baltimore Orioles, all the accolades came crashing down around Parker. By that point he had been playing for nearly a decade on banged up knees. As the 1980s started, a party powder called cocaine helped players have fun and play through the pain. It took Parker three years to kick the habit after his agent Tom Reich warned him about what the drug did to their friend J.R. Richard. Parker needed a clean break. He was newly married to another Queen City native and made the decision to come home. In 1984, Parker signed a deal with the Cincinnati Reds. This is the year when I first became a real baseball fan, so I think of Parker as a Red first. I actually found out that he used to play for the Pirates during a trivia question on the Wrigley Field scoreboard. As a member of the Reds, he teamed up with the ultimate Cincinnati kid Pete Rose, and Parker became Pops. He wore the moniker like a badge of honor and tutored the younger players in the game that had given so much to him. His career had come full circle.

Dave Parker amassed over 2700 hits in the big leagues. He played twenty years and gave his all every day. I believe that had he played after baseball cleaned up the drug use and the National League adopted a full time designated hitter that he would have reached the magic 3,000 hit plateau. His numbers fell a bit short of hall of fame levels during his time on the ballot, but this year the Veterans Committee voted him in. It will be interesting to see if he chooses the Reds or Pirates for his plaque. Today Parker grapples with Parkinson’s Disease and uses his platform to raise money to fight to find a cure. He is also collaborating with Dave Jordan on another book that takes place in Cincinnati, so suffice to say, it might be awhile until I obtain a copy. As I wait impatiently for hope to spring eternal I know that there are plenty of baseball books out there to tide me over. None of these books are a complete replacement for the game that I love but they offer up a page out of the game’s history and bring a smile to my face. None of the other baseball books I read will give me the same joy as ones featuring the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates. This team subconsciously started me on my baseball fan journey. To this day I get excited when I hear We are Family on the radio. With standout players like Dave Parker now I know why.

4 stars

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave Parker was the best player in baseball. During a five year window in the 1970s he was the premiere player in the game. Here, Parker tells his own story of life on and off the baseball diamond. He highlights the incredible cast of characters — teammates that he played and partied with. Together they dominated on the field and made it look fun. Their clubhouse was the loosest, most raucous in baseball. Parker shares memories of those relationships with Dock Ellis, Willie Stargell, Manny Sanguillen, John Milner, and more.

In later chapters, Parker covers his come back years with the Reds. He details his close relationship with Pete Rose, and his role as a mentor to the young Reds Stars. He deals candidly with the scandal of the Cocaine trials and his role in them. He tells how he loved playing in his All Star Games and the relationships those games opened with other stars.

Parker moves swiftly through his final years with the A’s, Brewers, Angels, and Blue Jays, without the same amount of detail devoted to his first two teams. Fans who watched him play during those years may feel slighted. I certainly would have liked to have heard more about the powerful A’s teams he helped lead to a World Series victory, his second.

Parker’s relationships make this book shine, setting it apart from your standard sports biography. There is no “tell all” to it, and no dwelling on his health crisis of recent years. It just about the joy of baseball as played in one of its greatest epochs. If you loved 1970s baseball, read this book!

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave Parker was a hitter many pitchers feared in the 1970s when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He and his teammates, most notably Willie Stargell, became known as the "We Are Family" team in 1979 when the Sister Sledge song would be playing while the Pirates were on their way to a World Series title. He has now written a memoir sharing his memories of that team and his baseball career with David Jordan.

Baseball wasn't the only sport Parker excelled in. A Cincinnati native, he had dreams of attending Ohio State University on a football scholarship and he may have done so had he not suffered a knee injury in high school. While that limited his effectiveness on the gridiron, he still excelled on the diamond and as a result, signed with the Pirates as a teenager.

His climb through the minor leagues, his eventual call-up to the Pirates and later his performance with Pittsburgh is filled with entertaining stories. The reader will have a challenge on their hands keeping up with all the nicknames that Parker had for all his teammates – I often had to look back to see who was named what name. The book does touch on racial issues, but not overtly so. The most that he mentions this is when he was receiving death threats before the 1979 All-Star game – the game in which he produced what is most likely the moment every fan who saw it remembers. It did not come at the plate, but in right field when he threw out Brian Downing at home plate, keeping the game tied at that time and giving his National League teammates a chance to win the game, which they did.

There are also sections about his cocaine use – subtle at first during the peak of his playing career. He talks about that, the later trial of a Pittsburgh cocaine dealer that rocked the baseball world and also some of his time with other teams, most notably his hometown Cincinnati Reds, where he was still productive, even leading the league in runs batted in during the 1985 season. However, just sections on his time with the Pirates is what makes the book a very good read and those who are Pirates fans or remember Parker from that era of baseball will want to pick this book up.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...

[Harold Kasselman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a throw back to the Jim Brosnan-like memoirs of old. Parker and Dave Jordan tell a conversational story about baseball and his brotherhood of players. There are no detailed chapters about his early life, but we get a clear picture of a happy childhood in a fully integrated area of Cincinnati where he played baseball, but excelled even more in football. But the book predominantly focuses on his years as a Pirate and the great offensive teams of the 70s when the Lumber Company dominated the NL East. We get to see what it was like to be a teammate on the We are Family team whose bench players could have fielded a good MLB team. They were close and partied together after games, especially during the Bradenton Florida spring training days. This is how lifelong relationships were formed. Parkway ultimately became a mentor, just as the great Willie Stargell had before him, for the Reds. Parker tells us just enough to appreciate what it was like to be a teammate on the Pirates and to a degree, the Reds, but he doesn't offer many personal insights into other players. He plays it close to the vest because this is far from a tell all book. It is a homage to friendship and shared experiences on the ball field. Parker even refuses to name the dealers that sold cocaine to him and others. Nor does he allow himself to dwell on his Parkinson's disease. It is barely discussed. In fact, the memoir ends optimistically with a gratitude for all the blessings Parker has achieved. Jordan does a great job in converting the memoir into an easy-to-read story with insights into celebrity and its dangers.

[Chip Rickard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read not only about Parker's career but about the era he played in. I think someone has already put together a playlist of the songs Parker and his teammates listened to. The music almost is a soundtrack to Parker's book.

Parker was at his most eloquent when talking about his teammates. It was crazy how talented and deep that Pirates organization of the 60s and 70s was. Parker fit right in with the big personalities on that team. The Pirates should get a lot of credit for not stifling the players. It was the first team to start an all African American nine and it wasn't like it was a big deal. I cringe at the memories of all those great players who had to play on artificial turf. Imagine how many more years we could have got out of guys like Parker and Andre Dawson.

As a Reds fan, I wish there was more in the book about his time there. I liked reading about his high school years since I work in the same building where he went to high school. The epilogue was poignant when he talked about his ex-teammates dying. There was a mistake early in the book where he called the Ohio River the Kentucky River. I did chuckle when he talked about going over "what's left of the Brent Spence Bridge." Overall it was a great book and anyone who is interested in baseball of that era should love it.

[Mark Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book for 420 pages or so but the book sped up through Parker's career after the Reds for the final 20 pages or so. I think a page was dedicated to his time in Oakland and Milwaukee combined. I came away knowing more about the We Are Family period of the Pirates and its cast of characters - Pops, Cobra, Hammer, Dock and many more. Overall it was enjoyable and worth the read.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up listening to my dad tell stories of the Phillies and Pirates battles of the 70’s and 80’s. As a Phils fan family, he’d always mention Willie Stargell and The Cobra being thorns in the side of the Phils when they were battling for the East crown. I really enjoyed getting to know about Dave’s life and career and how important building friendships with his teammates was. The book is great, but I also highly recommend watching the MLB Network special “ The Cobra at Twilight,” for a look back at Dave’s achievements as a ballplayer and his ongoing battle with Parkinson’s. Cheers to you Cobra- “if you hear any noise, it’s just me and the boys boppin!”

[Rob Neyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressively comprehensive look at Parker's time with the 1970s Pirates, and could almost serve as a standalone history on that period in the franchise's history, thanks to the obviously deep research by Parker and (I'm guessing) his co-author.

[Bob Tunney · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most forthright sports books I've ever read, Dave Parker crafts his memoir as much about the humanistic part of baseball as the sport itself. A must-read for any Pittsburgh Pirate or Cincinnati Reds fan.

[Dean Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed a trip down memory lane including my childhood in the 70s as a born and raised Pirate fan. Great to hear stories of all the players I watched or listened to on the radio. Some of my fondest childhood memories. Thanks Cobra!

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one setting. It’s detailed yet conversational; it’s like sitting down with Parker as he tells us his story.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

more dave parker than most people would want - save perhaps for diehard fans like me - but he and co-author dave jordan do a hell of a job here giving us 500 pages focused on the *relationships* that defined parker's up-and-down career (a career that ended with 2700+ hits and 300+ homers yet still seemed to have fallen short of where it should have been).

jordan "did the work" of a model co-author, carefully verifying game records using baseball-reference and other resources, but the result is that a lot of the game details seem like padding, and distract from parker's discussions about his friendships with the likes of dock ellis, larry demery, pete rose, and phil garner (along with plenty of interesting insights about race relations in cincy during his teen years, his muted reexamination of the pittsburgh cocaine trials and his role in them, his thoughts about agents and athlete pay, and so on).

the book more or less stops with the end of his strong career revival in cincy, and despite some late-career highlights (a second world series title win with oakland in '89, on a team on which he was a solid contributor), you don't get much coverage of all that. the authors clearly knew what people were going to buy the book to read - pittsburgh and cincy stuff - and focused their efforts there.

highly recommended if parker - even in his heftier post-prime run - was one of your favorite athletes to watch, as he was mine.

i reviewed this book for the washington examiner:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op...

[Christopher Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a Reds fan for life. My cousin was a Pirates fan growing up so, naturally, I hated them. Especially after the 1979 playoffs. But I really didn't hate all of them. Parker was one. Maybe it was because he was from Cincinnati (I am not though)? Or just that he was so cool and so good. Then there were those incredible throws in the 1979 All-Star game. Anyway, he eventually ended up on the Reds and I was pretty happy as he had some good years there. But on to the review:

This is one of the best baseball autobiographies I have ever read and I'm still unsure why. It's a lot like most others in many respects (ego, which you have to have; partying, women, etc.). The way it's written I felt as if it was just me and Dave sitting around while he tells me stories. Dave Jordan did a great job putting it all together (which is interesting, as I did not like the John D'Acquisto bio that he helped with). You get all the stories you wanted to hear about from the 70's and 80's and then some. Highly recommended for any baseball fan, whether or not you grew up when Parker was playing. I also have a new found respect for the Pirates and their family. Although I still effing hate that song that I won't name from 1979.

Finally - Dave Parker should most definitely be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did I really need to read 444 pages about Dave Parker?

Especially when he's still in the minors a hundred pages into it? When we're more than 300 pages in before we get to Parker's World Series win with the 1979 Pirates? When his post-Reds baseball career is condensed into about five pages as we approach the end of the book?

Well, I didn't really neeeeeeeeeeeeed to ...

Dave Parker's career always fascinated me. It mostly predated my baseball fandom, which really started in 1978 though I don't remember watching too many games until the early 1980s. Parker had already had his glory days and World Series ring by then. He really was an overlooked star of the '70s, mashing the ball throughout most of the decade and becoming a Pirates Hall of Famer from 1973-1983. When he joined my then-beloved Reds in 1984, it seemed Cincinnati was getting a past-his-prime slugger, but Parker led the NL in doubles and RBI in '85 and played well his four years in Cincinnati before becoming a bit of a baseball vagabond his final three years.

Little controversy followed Parker, save for his involvement in the Pittsburgh drug scandals where he was merely a user and not a seller. He testified against those selling while Reds teammate Pete Rose was honing in on his record-setting hit total. Beyond that, there was the normal baseball-player activities that don't command headlines -- women, partying, contract issues. Very few headline-grabbing issues.

And in his autobiography, Parker touches on those things without going into details. Oh, there's a blowout fight with one girlfriend whom Parker says destroyed his apartment during a breakout. There's the trips to the clubs and the bathrooms of the clubs to partake in cocaine binges, though Parker doesn't offer much detail. Mostly it's Dave Parker giving us a chronological breakdown of his life and career, starting with his school days through the minors through each year in the bigs with the Pirates. Many chapters describe a season in the making of Dave Parker, with much play-by-play breakdown of big moments. Parker describes as much locker-room camaraderie as on-field play, the book very much living up to the brotherhood aspect of the subtitle.

Ultimately, that's what it was all about for Dave Parker, the brotherhood he created with those along his path. It was very important for him to have good relationships with his teammates and coaches, even upper management. He wanted to earn respect from fans by giving his best effort every time he took the field, playing through injuries along the way. And it was important for him to pass down lessons he learned from people such as Willie Stargell, a mentor when Parker joined the Pirates.

Ultimately, it's a quick read despite its length, though not particularly in-depth. Sometimes the play-by-play details bog down the book, but they also help it breeze by as readers of a certain age will see the names and reminisce, causing them to just keep on going to see who else pops up. There's nothing earth-shattering here, nothing groundbreaking, just a check-in with a familiar name that will bring back memories and give the reader a better understanding of Dave Parker's philosophy of life.

[Seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first got into baseball in the mid-80s and my team was the Reds. I knew that Dave Parker was the best player on the team, but at the time he seemed to be overshadowed by other superstars in a league that included Darryl Strawberry, Dale Murphy, Pedro Guerrero, among others. I decided to read this because I wanted to learn a little more about this time when he was perhaps the very best in the game.

It's a whopper, checking in at nearly 500 pages, and probably doesn't need to be that long. I struggled to get through the first 100 pages or so and at one point set it aside for more than a year, and still nearly gave up on it. I am not sure where they came up with detailed accounts of minor league games from 50 years ago, but they're in there. Things pick up once he is established in Pittsburgh, but then the new challenge is deciphering all the nicknames. He rarely refers to teammates by their actual names so it is unclear who he is talking about until you get used to it. As for his own nickname it seems like he was more commonly known as Parkway to those closest to him.

If you're a Pirates fan, I'm sure you will love this as there is a lot of history and behind the scenes stuff on those glory years of the 1970s. For the rest of us, it's still interesting if you're into the 70s/80s era of baseball. Not a ton of stuff on the Reds years - those chapters were as much about the fallout from his drug use in Pittsburgh as they were about those Cincinnati teams. He talked about Pete Rose's chase to the hits record and his own mentoring of young stars such as Eric Davis and Barry Larkin. The Cobra was pretty good in Cincinnati - statistically his four years there compare well with any four year stretch in Pittsburgh. But the Reds could never get over the hump until after he left.

I don't know how much the authors play with the memories in order to make it into a readable volume. How do you remember what happened at a spring training bbq in 1976 or what you were thinking during a 1978 game or what conversation you had with Bill Madlock in the locker room in 1979? Especially with all the drinking and drug use.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Ken Heard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dave Parker spends much of the book describing his years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, which was where he made his name and became a star. But he totally glosses over his subsequent seasons with Cincinnati, Oakland, Toronto and whoever else he played for. 95 percent of the book is Pittsburgh, then it just rushes through the rest as if he were given a quota for pages written and overdid that just focusing on Pittsburgh.

He also interchanges nicknames and real names in the same paragraph, so it's hard at times to follow who he's talking about. He also pretty much ignores his use of cocaine, only saying he had visits with the "Medicine Man" and used euphemisms for the drug.

The book does show the creation of a superstar athlete. Early on, he was a quiet kid and the writing showed that. As he grew into the great player he was, it changed in style and became more boastful and all-knowing - not in a bad way, but a more knowledgeable way to show his seasons' experience. During this, though, he had an annoying way of writing 'heh-heh' at implied funny things that really through off what little cadence there was in an anecdote.

All these criticisms aside, this is a good book, especially if you are a fan of baseball from the 1970s era. Despite him being a great player, I felt he was underrated, perhaps living in the shadow of Willie Stargell and that great 1979 Pirates team. Parker, to coin a phrase, was the straw that stirred that drink, I felt. Reading about his accomplishments and the game recaps were worth the length of this book.

Overall, this a great look at that time of baseball, when salaries were just beginning to boom and cocaine was just beginning to snow down. I thought is stories of Dock Ellis were a blast, along with his "fued" with Phil Garner and his mentor "Pops" Stargell.

[Kyle Lobner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a review copy of this book from Press Box Publicity, and interviewed co-author Dave Jordan here: https://shepherdexpress.com/sports/br...

Parker is a fascinating figure in baseball history, his memoir is long overdue and he and Jordan share a level of detail that allows you to feel like you're right there in the room for pivotal moments in his career, conversations and nights out with teammates and the struggles of his rise to stardom. It's full of interactions with stars and famous colorful characters like Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, Pete Rose and Dock Ellis, while also "spreading some sunshine" on folks like longtime minor league teammate Charles Howard.

My only complaint about this book is it sounds like a lot of stuff I would've liked to hear about landed on the cutting room floor: Parker's high school football career feels like a quarter of the book, while his late career run in Oakland (including the earthquake World Series) and his 1990 season in Milwaukee scarcely draw mention. In the interview above Jordan mentions that the omission was due to a need to shorten the book and conversations with prospective readers to evaluate interest level in various topics.

Nonetheless, like many players of his era Dave Parker has a story you know but might see differently when reading it again in a modern light and through his eyes. This was an enjoyable read and I hope others will pick it up.

[Muneer Uddin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book on the life of Dave Parker - the Cobra. The majority of this book talks about Parker's career with the Pirates in the 1970's, early 1980's. A good portion of that is on the 1979 season. The book is very personal and you can tell Parker is a very likeable good person. Sure he made some mistakes with drugs and I'm glad he's gotten better concerning that. The book also contains a good portion of him coming back to his hometown to Cincinnati to play for the Reds. What kind of stunk was there wasn't much at all about his time with the A's, Brewers and Angels near the end of his career. That's all summed up in about 15-20 pages. As an Angel fan that remembered watching Parker during that era, would have loved to seen more written about that time. But for the most part the book focuses on the best parts of Parker's career. Well-written and flows very well. I felt like I was in the clubhouse with Parker, Stargell, Al Oliver, Phil Garner, Manny Sanguillen, Doc Ellis, Danny Murtaugh, Chuck Tanner, Bill Madlock, Bob Roberton, Bert Blyleven, Eric Davis, Kal Daniels, Pete Rose and many many more. Well done by Parker and Jordan. Baseball fans will love.

[Josh Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was a kid when Dave Parker was in his prime, but, I had a lot of his baseball cards and would memorize his stats. This is a great read, he remembers random games from the we are family Pirates and his Reds tenures. He also is totally open and honest about his cocaine use during his playing days and his love of baseball is still there. His body has been ravaged by bad knees and Parkinson's disease, but, he has come out the other side with his family and has done well off the field as an owner of several Popeyes franchises in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The best part of this book was how close he was to guys like Willie Stargell, Dock Ellis, John Milner, Larry Demery, Phil Garner, Eric Davis, Pete Rose, Barry Larkin and how those relationships have touched his life. Great book for any baseball fan.

A-

[Thomas Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Marshall Merims · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book! Over 400 pages filled with an unbelievable amount of details from his childhood, his minor league seasons, and all of his major league seasons. Parker loved his family, his childhood friends, his minor league teammates, and his Pirates teammates for the remainder of his life. He even kept in touch with his high school guidance counselor throughout his entire life. It is curious how he sped through his later years in so few pages though. Parker had an incredible devotion to Roberto Clemente, Willie Stargell, and Pete Rose. I highly recommend this book with 5 out of 5 baseballs. ⚾⚾⚾⚾⚾

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you hear any noise, it's just me and the boys boppin. This book is a baseball fan's dream, as Dave Parker tells the true story of his life and career with an honesty and sense of style that makes it impossible to put the book down. I went to this book expecting to want to hear stories of the Cobra's time with the Pirates and Reds, but left the book thankful to have learned so much about his upbringing in Cincinnati. He doesn't say this anywhere in the book, but Dave Parker ought to be in the Hall of Fame.

[Tim Nistler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up watching players like Dave Parker play baseball. I remember vividly the 1979 Pirates. I enjoyed this book very much. Whenever I read baseball biographies or histories, I always need to have the internet nearby because I want to look up the people and events talked about. This was no different. I think Mr. Parker's candidness and honesty are what make this such a good read.

[Jack McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve enjoyed reading baseball biographies lately of the stars of the Game when I was young. This one was excellent, with focus on all the players of that era and perspective from the Cobra himself. Good stuff!

[Lee Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

One of the best sports books I have read. Dave was one one of my favorite players growing up. Lifelong Reds fan but I loved those Pirate teams.

[Gerard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! A great read!

[John Latzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Biography

Dave Parker was a much more positive guy than I ever imagined. Many of the stories brought back memories of my youth as a Bucco fan.