Lance Parrish, former All-Star catcher for the Detroit Tigers, signing copies of Few and Chosen
*4/1/10 6:00 PM at Borders Books – Crescent Blvd. Novi, MI.
*4/3/10 Noon at Barnes & Noble – South Rochester Road. Rochester, MI.
Lance Michael Parrish, aka “Big Wheel”,(born June 15, 1956, in Clairton, Pennsylvania) is an American former Major League Baseball catcher for the Detroit Tigers (1977-1986), Philadelphia Phillies (1987-1988), California Angels (1989-1992), Seattle Mariners (1992), Cleveland Indians (1993), Pittsburgh Pirates (1994), and the Toronto Blue Jays (1995). He was regarded as one of the best catchers in the 1980s, for both his offensive and defensive play.
Professional career
Parrish was drafted as a third baseman by the Detroit Tigers in the first round of the 1974 Major League Baseball draft. While playing for the Lakeland Tigers in the minor leagues, he was converted to a catcher. He reached the major leagues in 1977 on a part time basis, and by 1979 he had replaced Milt May as the team’s regular catcher. In 1979, he also played winter baseball in Puerto Rico with the Mayaguez Indians.
Parrish’s best season was 1982 when he hit .284 and blasted 32 home runs. He was also the clean-up hitter for the Tigers when they won the 1984 World Series. After ten years with the Tigers, Parrish signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent before the 1987 season. The Phillies made their slogan for the season “Lance us a Pennant.” He quickly fell out of favor with the Philadelphia fans and media in his second season there as a result of poor offensive output, ranking near the bottom of full time major league players in 1988 with a .215 batting average. Afterwards, he played three seasons and parts of a fourth with the California Angels before ending his career with short stints for the Mariners, Indians, Pirates and Blue Jays. Parrish was also with the Los Angeles Dodgers in spring training 1993, but he failed to make the squad as rookie Mike Piazza’s performance showed the club that Piazza was ready to be a starting major-league catcher.
Parrish was an eight-time All-Star (1980, 1982-86, 1988, 1990), and he won three Gold Glove Awards (1983-85). In 1982, he established the American League record for home runs by a catcher (32), surpassing the previous mark set by Yogi Berra and Gus Triandos, then surpassed his own mark two years later with 33. Parrish ranks fifth in Major League history in home runs as a catcher with 299, 10th among catchers in total bases with 3113, and 11th in runs batted in with 1070. Parish was a six-time winner of the Silver Slugger Award which is awarded annually to the best offensive player at each position.
Post-playing career
After retiring he became a roving catching instructor for the Kansas City Royals during the 1996 season. From 1997-98, he was a coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers Double-A team, the San Antonio Missions. From 1999 to 2001 he was part of the Detroit Tigers major league coaching staff as a third-base coach, bullpen coach and bench coach.
Parrish spent the 2002 season as a broadcaster, working as the color commentator for Tigers games on Detroit’s WKBD station. The following season, he returned to the Tigers dugout when former teammate Alan Trammell became the manager of the Tigers. Parrish remained on Trammell’s staff through the 2005 season when they were both dismissed.
He became a minor league Manager with the Ogden Raptors, the Dodgers rookie level team, for the 2006 season. The team finished 37-39. On November 20, 2006 he was hired to manage the Great Lakes Loons in Single-A ball during their debut season. His contract was not renewed following the season.
Parrish has two sons in professional baseball. His oldest son, David Parrish, was selected in the first round of the 2000 amateur draft by the New York Yankees, and is now playing in the Texas Rangers organization.
References: http://www.celebritybooksigningsandevents.com/
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