Former major league baseball star Dave Parker has provided an unusually candid and enjoyable memoir with his Cobra: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood, co-written with Dave Jordan.

Parker's book spends more effort exploring relationships than a typical sports memoir, so much so that the label "relational memoir" feels appropriate. We learn much about the players he looked up to as a young Pirate, those that were his peers during his rise and career peak, and his adjustment to elder statesman status as his career wound down with the Reds and a few stops in the American League. But it's not just players that are important in Parker's story. Perhaps the most present character throughout the book aside from Parker himself is his agent Tom Reich, and we also spend quite a bit of time with a favorite mentor from his days as a high school student at Courter Tech in Cincinnati.

Cobra pulls no punches. While the highlights of Parker's life and career are unsurprisingly covered in detail, so are the lowlights, including his drug use and subsequent involvement in the Pittsburgh drug trials, and his volatile relationship with an ex-girlfriend. Hardly a page goes by for the first three quarters of the book that doesn't include Parker reaching for a Kool in times of stress or need of relief. He also addresses the challenges of aging, recounting the friends and influences he's lost since his playing days ended as well as his more recent diagnosis with Parkinson's disease.

The worst thing you can say about the book is that it's probably a bit longer than it needs to be. Some tightening of the manuscript likely would have made for an easier read, but Parker's an engaging enough character that you forgive the verbosity.

Any baseball fan would enjoy Cobra, especially any fan of the Pirates, Reds, or baseball in the 1970s and '80s.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Dave Parker was a Major League baseball player, most notably the Pittsburgh Pirates. He wasn't a particular favorite of mine before reading Cobra! And now, after reading his collaboration with Dave Jordan, I like the guy. When I was moving through Dave's story, I had to focus on the fact this HIS story as I kept mixing myself up as I confused Reggie Jackson with Parker ( same basic era, similar appearances, left-handed, bearded at times, outfielders). It was a real disservice to Mr. Parker! If you like baseball biographies, this is a great story to read. Dave comes through the pages as does his teammates, the times, and many of the.locations. In fact, I would recommend that you erase any preconceived notions of Dave Cobra Parker AND you will really appreciate this story. He doesn't shy away from issues, but he doesn't embellish any events either, which led me to a sense of this man's humble honesty.
I highly recommend COBRA!

This is a wonderful book that takes the reader through the colorful life of Dave Parker. Reading it is like having a conversation with your cool uncle.

The book is very easy to read. Parker uses just the right amount of 70s slang to get his point acrossn without veering into parody. He describes the life of a superstar just as well as most other baseball books. But he takes it a step further than those books by having a self-awareness not found in most athlete memoirs. Dave Parker realizes he’s a flawed individual and doesn’t take himself too seriously. This attitude comes through in the book and adds a warmth and authenticity that’s very soothing.

Parker only alludes to his cocaine use. Whenever he’s talking about using drugs, he makes an innuendo and the phrase is in italics. In other hands, this could have become annoying. But it fits right in with the conversational and breezy tone of the rest of the book. After a while, I looked forward to the euphemisms that Parker would use.

This book is a great read for any baseball fan, not just people who watched baseball in the 1970s or Pittsburgh Pirates fans.

Subtitle: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood

As a St. Louis Cardinals fan in the 1970s, I couldn’t stand Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Parker played great against everyone, but always seemed to do the most harm when facing Cardinal pitchers. I came to like him and even root for him after he left Pittsburgh as a free agent following the 1983 season.


The book starts with Parker’s career as a three-sport athlete in high school. Recruited as a tailback by Ohio State, Parker suffered a knee injury during his senior year that eventually put an end to his hopes of playing college football or basketball. Instead, he pursued a professional career in baseball as a catcher but was drafted by the Pirates as an outfielder. Cobra focuses on each year of Parker’s career from his first season in the minor leagues until he was traded from the Reds to the Oakland A’s after the 1987 season. He played four more seasons in the American League, but those were crammed together at the end of the book.

The subtitle mentions brotherhood, and it’s clear that friendships with his fellow players meant a lot to Parker, especially the relationships forged during his time in Pittsburgh. Whether it was in the clubhouse, on the field, or bars and nightclubs after games, Parker treasured those friends and time he spent with them. He also relates how veterans help him find his way as a young player and how as an older player did his part to pass the benefit of his experience on to the next generation of players.

I gave Cobra five stars on Goodreads. For me, this is exactly what a baseball biography should be. I would have preferred that the last four years of his career had been covered in the same amount of detail as his earlier seasons, I still loved this book because it is written with Dave Parker’s voice, which gives it an authenticity that is missing in so many sports biographies.

When I hear about the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team it takes me back to 1979 with the pirates wearing their pillbox ballcaps and the playing the Sister Sledge song "We are Family" and the culmination of their world series win. This book brings back quite the cast of characters and in particular one Dave "The Cobra" Parker. This starts with his life as a small child and a real focus of the three sport star he was in high school. If it were not for a knee injury you might be reading about what a great football player he was. It covers his time coming up through the minor leagues and into 19 years in the Major League. This is a very detailed book with many games visited. If you are a baseball and or a Pirates fan this is a book for you. Great baseball read.

These kinds of books were a dime a dozen in the 60s and 70s and not very good.
This one is readable from beginning to end. Dave Parker brings the ball field and clubhouse to life - this is particularly enjoyable with a team whose culture was as unique and unforgettable as the Pirates.

He is honest about his personal difficulties - his teammates were more well publicised at the time but this feels like a true wounds and all account with chapter headings based on top hits of the time.

For baseball fans of that era a treat