Observer-Dispatch and Times Telegram readers have spoken, and their 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame inductee of choice is 1970s and 1980s star Dave Parker, who spent the majority of his career as an outfielder with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds.
Thirty-two percent of the vote cast online supported Parker, who was chosen in December by the Hall’s Classic Baseball Era Committee. He died June 28 at the age of 74 due to what were described as complications from a lung illness.
A native of Cincinnati, he played in Pittsburgh from 1973-83, winning two batting titles and the 1978 National League Most Valuable Player award, and helping the Pirates win the 1979 World Series.
He left the Pirates as a free agent and spent the next four seasons with the Reds, leading the league in RBI in 1985. He finished his career with stops in Oakland, Milwaukee, California and Toronto, adding a second World Series ring in 1989.
Overall, Parker batted .290 with 339 home runs, 1,493 RBI and 1,272 runs scored. He was a seven-time all-star and won three Gold Gloves and three Silver Sluggers.
Pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, two of the three living inductees, tied for second place with 24% of the vote, followed by Ichiro Suzuki and Dick Allen.
VOTE: Which new Baseball Hall of Famer is your favorite?
The National Baseball Hall of Fame welcomes its 2025 induction class to Cooperstown on Sunday, July 27, and the gallery will feature five new plaques, increasing the total to 351.
Pitchers CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner, and outfielder Ichiro Suzuki were elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America during baseball’s offseason, and the Classic Baseball Era Committee added corner infielder Dick Allen and outfielder Dave Parker to complete the class.
Allen, who died in 2020, and Parker, who passed last month, will be inducted posthumously.
Do you have a favorite among those players? The Observer-Dispatch and Times Telegram are polling online readers about the class this week.
Suzuki starred in his native Japan before joining the Seattle Mariners at the age of 27 and winning a batting title and the American League’s Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards in his first season. He added a second batting title and led the American League in hits seven times on his way to collecting 3,089 hits in 19 years with the Mariners, Yankees and Marlins. He was an all-star each of his first 10 seasons in Seattle.
Sabathia won a Cy Young award in Cleveland in 2007 and a World Series ring two years later with the Yankees, following a brief stint with the Milwaukee Brewers. He won 251 games in 19 major league seasons, and was selected for six all-star teams. He struck out 3,093 batters and led the America League in victories twice with 19 in 2009 and a career-high 21 the next year.
Wagner pitched his entire major league career as a reliever and saved 422 games with a 2.31 ERA for the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox and Braves. He averaged 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings with 10 or more in all but one of 15 seasons. He saved a career-high 44 games in 2003, his final season in Houston, and had four seasons with ERAs below 2.00 in more than 65 appearances. He was a seven-time all-star selection.
Parker, the 1978 Most Valuable Player, spent most of his career in Pittsburgh with the Pirates before joining the Cincinnati Reds for four years and spending time with Oakland, Milwaukee, Toronto and the then California Angels. A seven-time all-star, he hit 339 home runs and won back-to-back batting titles in 1977 and 1978.
Allen, the National League Rookie of the Year in 1964 and American League Most Valuable Player in 1972, started his career with the Philadelphia Phillies and moved on to play for the Cardinals, Dodgers, White Sox and Athletics, in addition to returning to the Phillies for two years. A seven-time all-star, he hit 351 home runs and led the American League in his two full seasons in Chicago.
Cast your vote for a favorite at UticaOD.com or TimesTelegrm.com. The polls will be open until Thursday at 2 p.m. with results posted after that.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Who did area readers select as their favorite among 2025 Hall of Fame inductees?
Reporting by Jon Rathbun, Herkimer Times Telegram / Times Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
