In advance of his upcoming book, Cobra: A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood (University of Nebraska, April 2021), legendary Pirates slugger Dave Parker wanted to celebrate the lives and careers of Black baseball players of his era who have since passed away.
What began as a conversation with co-author Dave Jordan mourning recently departed Major League superstars evolved into a longer dialogue about guys like Jimmy Wynn, Lee May and Darryl Hamilton, who left us too soon. This led to a discussion much wider in scope, almost completist, of nearly every deceased Black player against whom Parker took the field during his major-league career.
When he suggested doing something to honor "the fellas on the other side of the diamond," the Cobra gave Jordan just one directive: "Don't leave anyone behind."
The result is Dave Parker's salute to his dearly-departed opponents during the peak of Black baseball.