The Out-of-Position Lance Parrish Career-Capper
And what it might all mean for a Fun Police assault on Cooperstown
1996 Collector’s Choice Lance Parrish (#349) - Card of the Day
Brian McCann started (2005) and ended (2019) his big league career with Atlanta Braves teams who won division titles and lost in the National League Division Series. In both cases, McCann hit .188 in the losing effort.
In between those bookends, he put together a storied All-Star career as one of the best power-hitting and pitch-framing catchers in the game. Will it be enough for McCann to garner much Hall of Fame support on his first Cooperstown ballot?
We’ll find out when the vote is announced on January 21, but before then, we can at least read some tea leaves. One leaf in particular comes from Lance Parrish, the number-three batter comp for McCann, according to Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores.
Parrish, of course, was part of the young core of talent that took the Detroit Tigers by storm in the late 1970s and eventually grew into that monstrous 1984 team that stormed all the way to a World Series title.
Joining Parrish on the way up were Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Jack Morris, Steve Kemp, Jason Thompson, Dan Petry, and others. Mark Fidrych led the way to the majors, but was unfortunately out of baseball by the time it all came together in the mid-1980s.
In parts of ten seasons with the Tigers, Parrish was an All-Star six times, won three Gold Gloves and four Silver Sluggers, and received MVP votes three times. His offensive prowess was the most obvious aspect of his game for casual fans, as he was always good for 20-30 home runs and 80-100 (or more!) RBI per season.
But, as the Gold Gloves attest, Parrish was also a standout behind the plate — though he did give up a ton of passed balls. He also threw out three baserunners in the 1982 All-Star Game (Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith, Al Oliver) to set a Midsummer Classic record.
Parrish was a free agent after the 1986 season and decided to hitch his wagon to the Philadelphia Phillies. His numbers weren’t quite as stout in two seasons in the National League, with his OPS+ dropping below 100 for the first time since his rookie season.
The Phils traded him to the Angels for David Holdridge after the 1988 season, and Parrish’s performance edged upward in 1989. He put together one last big season (.268, 24 home runs, 70 RBI) in 1990 before he began a steady decline that featured a series of team switches.
From 1992 through the end of the road in 1995, Parrish played for the Angels, Mariners, Indians, Pirates, and Blue Jays. That doesn’t even count another stint with the Tigers before (but not during) the 1994 season, and a similar sign-and-trade turn with the Royals before the 1995 season.
When he hung up his shin guards for good after the 1995 campaign, Parrish had a career that made him one of the greatest few dozen catchers of all time: .252, 324 HR, 1070 RBI, 39.5 WAR.
And, even though he played only 70 games for Toronto, Parrish made his last baseball card appearances as a member of the Blue Jays. His 1996 Upper Deck card, showing him in the unfamiliar blue uniform and in unfamiliar territory — taking a lead off the bag as a baserunner — is also a career-capper:
When Parrish came up for Hall of Fame consideration in 2001, he garnered just nine votes and fell off the ballot.
Does a similar fate await McCann? Considering that Big Wheel (Parrish) tops the Fun Police (McCann) in most counting stats, that seems like a real possibility. Of course, it could all depend on how voters “frame” the conversation around a catcher’s true value.