Happy Birthday Baseball Buns for Mom

A box full of Junk Wax celebrations

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1986 Fleer Limited Edition Dave Parker (#33) - Card of the Day

This baseball card looks and feels like my childhood, at least the last few years of it, when I was drenching myself in baseball, band, chemistry and math, and so many other foundational pieces.

I wasn’t yet fully baked (probably never will be), but it’s easy to look back now and see that the stuff I was most interested in during the 1980s is the stuff that “stuck” for the most part.

On the baseball front, Dave Parker spent the middle of the decade cementing my Reds fandom with every swing of his bat, every swagger on the basepaths, every laser throw from right field.

And pulling a Dave Parker baseball card from a wax pack was like unwrapping a little piece of home, and a little piece of hope. The Reds were bad before Parker arrived, and they were still bad after he arrived…but not for long.

When Parker shocked the world (at least my little corner of it) by signing with the Reds in December 1983, it was like Santa not only came early but also delivered our gifts for the rest of the decade.

Don’t ask for anything else, kid.

But, of course, I did ask. And I received a lot, from many. One of those was Parker himself, who was in right field for Cincinnati at the first game I ever attended in person at Riverfront Stadium in June 1984.

Mom, Dad, and I sat there and yelled greetings to him every inning when he took the field, and when he made a play. He acknowledged us, too — smiling, tipping his cap, even waving.

It was beyond a thrill. It was a lifetime-fan-making moment.

One that makes even a Junk Wax-era boxed set card like the 1986 Fleer Limited Edition card above feel special. Sure, it’s part of a 44-card set that you could (and still can) buy pretty much anywhere. And, yes, the checklist includes such luminaries as Chris Brown and Oddibe McDowell.

But this is a Dave Parker baseball card. Cobra. The man who made the Reds relevant again in an instant. Parker with that big, confident follow-through, in the afternoon sunshine on cheap cardboard is the stuff dreams were made of.

And Parker’s play, approachability, and engagement didn’t just make a fan of me, either. For the rest of her life “Buns” Parker would also be my Mom’s favorite player — and, yes, that was her name for him.

Some of what you just read might seem familiar if you’ve been around these parts long, but that’s OK.

Today is my mom’s birthday, the first one that’s swung around on the big fastball of life since she passed away last July. There was really no other choice than a Dave Parker card, and a bit of Dave Parker narrative.

So happy birthday, Mom. You can bet I’ll be poring over a stack of Buns cards all day long.

Dave Parker, Eh?

I’ve talked about Parker plenty over the years. I’ll keep doing that, too, no doubt.

For now, if you want a bit more Cobra, how about a look at a sort of jolting career capper?

You can read all about that one right here.

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You got any family-only nicknames for big league players? I’d be interested to know what sort of liberties other folks take with our heroes.

And, of course, thanks for reading, as always.

—Adam

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