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Maurice Wesley Parker
Los Angeles Dodgers
First Base
Born: November 13, 1939, Evanston, IL
Signed: Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent before 1963 season
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers 1964-72
World Series Appearances: Los Angeles Dodgers 1965-66
Acknowledged as one of the best fielding first baseman of all-time, Wes Parker played nine seasons with the Dodgers, winning a World Series ring with the club in 1965. Parker won six consecutive Gold Gloves between 1967 and 1972, and his .996 fielding percentage at first is currently 16th all-time. Parker's best season at the plate came in 1970 when he batted .319 while leading the league with 47 doubles. He drove in a career-high 111 runs, while only hitting 10 home runs. He surprisingly and abruptly announced his retirement from baseball following the 1972 season, at the age of 33. In 1,288 career major league games, Parker batted .267 with 1,110 hits, 194 doubles and 470 RBIs.
He served as a Reds broadcaster for the 1973 season and then signed a lucrative contract to play the 1974 season with the Nankai Hawks in Japan. He had another successful season, but decided to walk away from the life of a baseball player again. Parker pursued an acting career throughout the 1970s and 1980s, appearing on episodes of The Brady Bunch, McMillan & Wife, Police Story and The Six Million Dollar Man.
Acknowledged as one of the best fielding first baseman of all-time, Wes Parker played nine seasons with the Dodgers, winning a World Series ring with the club in 1965. Parker won six consecutive Gold Gloves between 1967 and 1972, and his .996 fielding percentage at first is currently 16th all-time. Parker's best season at the plate came in 1970 when he batted .319 while leading the league with 47 doubles. He drove in a career-high 111 runs, while only hitting 10 home runs. He surprisingly and abruptly announced his retirement from baseball following the 1972 season, at the age of 33. In 1,288 career major league games, Parker batted .267 with 1,110 hits, 194 doubles and 470 RBIs.
He served as a Reds broadcaster for the 1973 season and then signed a lucrative contract to play the 1974 season with the Nankai Hawks in Japan. He had another successful season, but decided to walk away from the life of a baseball player again. Parker pursued an acting career throughout the 1970s and 1980s, appearing on episodes of The Brady Bunch, McMillan & Wife, Police Story and The Six Million Dollar Man.
Some text for this post originally appeared on my 1965 Topps blog.
Building the Set / Card #431
December 3, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
The Card / Dodgers Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
1969 Season
Parker had another solid and consistent season, batting .278 with 13 home runs and 68 RBIs in 132 games for the fourth place Dodgers. He missed 20 games in late July and early August following an appendectomy.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #456
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1964-73
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game #56
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 57 in the Beckett online database as of 12/1/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
December 3, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
Doug and I returned to The Philly Show in early December, once again held inside the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. eBay has taken over sponsorship of the show, with the quaint, bubble-lettered Philly Show logo that had been in place since the 1980s replaced with a more modern logo, keeping with the times. I wrote about the show in a post over at The Phillies Room.
Similar to my strategy from March, I wanted to focus on accumulating commons and having found success with Uncle Dick's Cards before, I didn't mess around and headed right for the neon green binders. I pulled 145 cards from the binder containing cards 301 to the end of the set, stopping when I reached 500. This card was the 139th of 145 cards purchased for our set, and after the dealer discount due to my bulk purchase, it cost a little over a dollar.
The Card / Dodgers Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
The photo used here is from the same session as the photo used for Parker's 1968 Topps card. He wore #28 throughout his nine-year career with the Dodgers, and the uniform number can be seen peaking through on the front and back of his uniform. Topps has some extra space for the write-up on the back of the card, but opted to keep it short and sweet, highlighting Parker's stellar defense.
This is one of 23 cards available in the set's fifth series available as either "yellow letter" or "white letter" variations, with the yellow letter variations being more prevalent. This is the more prevalent yellow letter variation with Parker's last name printed in yellow.
This is one of 23 cards available in the set's fifth series available as either "yellow letter" or "white letter" variations, with the yellow letter variations being more prevalent. This is the more prevalent yellow letter variation with Parker's last name printed in yellow.
Accuracy Index: Parker's card scores a +5.
1969 Season
Parker had another solid and consistent season, batting .278 with 13 home runs and 68 RBIs in 132 games for the fourth place Dodgers. He missed 20 games in late July and early August following an appendectomy.
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First Mainstream Card: 1964 Topps #456
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (10): 1964-73
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game #56
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 57 in the Beckett online database as of 12/1/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
Beckett Database / The Trading Card Database
1965 Topps Blog
1965 Topps Blog
#492 Tony Cloninger - Cincinnati Reds / #494 Ken Berry - Chicago White Sox
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