Lance Parrish

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lance Michael Parrish, aka "Big Wheel",^{[citation needed]} (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). 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'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.

Parrish was an eight-time All-Star (1980, 1982-86, 1988, 1990), and he won three Gold Glove Awards (1983-85). He ranks fifth in Major League history in home runs as a catcher with 299. 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.

When acquired by the Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent before the 1986 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 MLB players in 1988 with a .215 batting average.

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 1999-2001 he was part of the Detroit Tigers major league coaching staff as a third-base coach, bullpen coach and bench coach. In 1979, he played in Puerto Rico with the Mayaguez Indians.

Parrish spent the 2002 season as a broadcaster, working as the color analyst 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, Eric Parrish, was selected in the first round of the 2000 amateur draft by the New York Yankees, and is now playing in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Another son, Tom Parrish, played college ball at Biola University; is in the Tigers minor league system, and has earned the nickname "Hubcap" in reference to his father's nickname "Big Wheel."

Parrish played with a catcher's mitt that was bright orange around the periphery.

[edit] See also

• 1984 Detroit Tigers season
• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI

[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Great Lakes Loons bio