With his bat, his glove and his flair, Dave Parker put himself in the pantheon of All-Star Game performers. He won the first Home Run Derby, in 1985 in Minnesota, six years after his throwing arm earned him the All-Star most valuable player award in Seattle. That was in 1979, when his Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series. “We took on the role of being the Black people’s team,” Parker, 70, said by phone this week. On opening day 2021, according to Major League Baseball, that figure had dipped to 7.6 percent.

Source: New York Times July 09, 2021 23:03 UTC