Nicknamed ‘The Big Wheel’, Lance Parrish had an extremely solid 19-year baseball career.
An 8-time All-star at catcher, Parrish was a well respected player around the league for his power hitting abilities and his defensive skill. With 324 career home runs to his credit, Parrish crushed 20 or more home runs in 7 different seasons. His strong bat and ability to drive in runs(he has 1,070 RBI) made Parrish a fan favorite during his playing days with the Detroit Tigers. And with 3 Gold Glove awards to his credit, Parrish was a defensive force as well as the anchor for many Tigers’ pitching staffs.
Parrish’s lone offensive flaw was his ability to hit for average. Keep in mind that 20 years ago there were not many, if any, catchers that were solid contact hitters. For his career, Parrish has a .252 average and never hit higher than .286 in any one season. But Parrish’s low batting average did not deter from his ability to drive the ball and score runs himself. In his career, Lance Parrish has scored 856 runs.
Parrish’s lone trip to the playoffs came during the 1984 seasons. The Tigers did very well and Parrish won his only World Series Championship that year. In the World Series, his average actually improved as he batted .278 while blasting 1 home run and driving in 2 runs and scoring 3 himself in just that 5-game series.
At one point, Parrish had announced that he wanted to set the record for most HR by a catcher, but unfortunately, that seemed to be part of the cause of his plummeting BA later in his career. He got close, but as long as Fisk was still playing he didn’t really have a chance.