{"product_id":"cobra-a-life-of-baseball-and-brotherhood-hardback-9781496218735","title":"Cobra; A Life of Baseball and Brotherhood (Hardback) 9781496218735","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eCobra\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA Life of Baseball and Brotherhood\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eDave Parker (Author), Dave Jordan (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781496218735\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 1 April 2021\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e480 pages, 28 photographs\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 4.2 cm, 0.866 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eCobra\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the most gripping and revealing baseball memoirs I've ever read. With vivid stories, richly textured characters and unvarnished insights on the good and the bad, Dave Parker and Dave Jordan take the reader on a captivating journey through one of the most compelling careers in baseball history.\"-Tyler Kepner, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“Impossibly charismatic, remarkably candid, and as cool as his nickname Cobra, Dave Parker is on the short list of the most compelling ballplayers of his generation. It’s fitting, then, that in his new and overdue memoir in collaboration with Dave Jordan, Parker tells his story in a way reminiscent of his pair of legendary throws in the 1979 All-Star Game: it’s mesmerizing, powerful, and right on the money.”-Chad Finn, sportswriter for the \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e\"This is a highly readable and, more importantly, well contextualized work. It provides a chronological recounting of Parker's life, but it also presents insight into what was happening in and around a major league clubhouse during the 1970s and into the next decade.\"-Jorge Iber, \u003ci\u003eNINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“Dave Parker gets his due in \u003ci\u003eCobra\u003c\/i\u003e. One of the greatest to ever play the game of baseball. We get to see what made the first Million Dollar Man. He is a giant among men, larger than life.”-Chuck D, founding member of Public Enemy\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“Dave Parker played hard and he lived hard. \u003ci\u003eCobra\u003c\/i\u003e brings us on a unique, fantastic journey back to that time of bold, brash, and styling ballplayers. He reveals in relentless detail who he really was and, in so doing, who we all really were.”-Dave Winfield\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“Dave Parker’s autobiography takes us back to the time when ballplayers still smoked cigarettes, when stadiums were multiuse mammoth bowls, when AstroTurf wrecked knees with abandon, and when Blacks had their largest presence on the field in the game’s history. Honest, informative, funny, sad, even at times touching, Parker’s book fills a major void about what a great Black ballplayer’s life was like in the 1970s and 1980s. I highly recommend it.”-Gerald Early, professor of English and chair of the African and African American Studies Department at Washington University in St. Louis\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“For that period of time, he was the greatest player of my generation.”-Keith Hernandez\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“Dave Parker made a lasting mark on the imagination of an entire generation of baseball fans, standing out with his unforgettable combination of swagger, style, and skill. \u003ci\u003eCobra\u003c\/i\u003e is a memoir that’s truly worthy of his legend, filled with Parker’s insightful, hilarious, and long-overdue perspectives on the game he played, the era he played it in, and the guys he played it with. I’ve been waiting forty years to read this book, and let me tell you-it was well worth the wait.”-Dan Epstein, author of \u003ci\u003eBig Hair and Plastic Grass\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“This is a book that transcends baseball. Dave Parker has finally told his story, and it resonates with the strength and soul that have always made him one of the most compelling, and complicated, figures in baseball history. \u003ci\u003eCobra\u003c\/i\u003e is a triumph.”-Ricky Cobb (@Super70sSports)\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cdiv\u003e“While reading \u003ci\u003eCobra\u003c\/i\u003e you will see a portrait of a man with amazing talent, a huge heart, and the will to be great. You will also see a man who seems to have it all but is still searching for peace of mind and love. There are highlights and low moments, excess and loss, brilliance and poor decisions, brotherhood and disagreements, joy and pain.”-Preston Wilson, former MLB All-Star outfielder\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eDave Parker was one of the biggest and most badass baseball players of the late twentieth century. He was a seven-time All-Star, a two-time batting champion, a three-time Gold Glove winner, the 1978 National League MVP, and a World Series champion with both the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Oakland A’s. Here the great Dave Parker delivers his wild and long-awaited autobiography-an authoritative account of Black baseball during its heyday as seen through the eyes of none other than the Cobra.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eCobra\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of a Black athlete making his way through the game during a time of major social and cultural transformation. From the racially integrated playing fields of his high school days to the cookie-cutter cathedrals of his prime alongside all the midseason and late-night theatrics that accompany an athlete’s life on the road-Parker offers readers a glimpse of all that and everything in between.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Parker recounts the triumphant victories and the heartbreaking defeats, both on and off the field. He recalls the complicated politics of spring training, the early stages of the free agency era, and the notorious 1985 drug trials. Paying tribute to the enduring power of relationships between players, Parker tells an epic tale of friendship, success, indulgence, and redemption, but most of all, family. \u003ci\u003eCobra\u003c\/i\u003e is the unforgettable story of a million-dollar athlete just before baseball became a billion-dollar game.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e Preface\u003cbr\u003e Prologue: Pittsburgh, September 11, 1985\u003cbr\u003e 1. My Beautiful Balloon\u003cbr\u003e 2. Buckeye Battle Cry\u003cbr\u003e 3. My Cherie Amour\u003cbr\u003e 4. Everybody Is a Star\u003cbr\u003e 5. Are You Experienced?\u003cbr\u003e 6. Gotta Get Over the Hump\u003cbr\u003e 7. Brother, Brother, Brother\u003cbr\u003e 8. Mr. Bojangles\u003cbr\u003e 9. Here I Am\u003cbr\u003e 10. Black Water\u003cbr\u003e 11. Higher Ground\u003cbr\u003e 12. Me and Baby Brother\u003cbr\u003e 13. The Sound of Philadelphia\u003cbr\u003e 14. Show Me the Way\u003cbr\u003e 15. Starchild Here!!!\u003cbr\u003e 16. Take Me to the Next Phase (Part 1)\u003cbr\u003e 17. Take Me to the Next Phase (Part 2)\u003cbr\u003e 18. The Ohio Players\u003cbr\u003e 19. One Nation under a Groove\u003cbr\u003e 20. Family\u003cbr\u003e 21. This Is Your Life\u003cbr\u003e 22. Fame\u003cbr\u003e 23. Funkytown\u003cbr\u003e 24. If You Ever Wondered\u003cbr\u003e 25. Trouble Man\u003cbr\u003e 26. You Dropped a Bomb on Me\u003cbr\u003e 27. The Time Has Come Today\u003cbr\u003e Epilogue: Everyday People\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments \u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52523183210776,"sku":"9781496218735","price":25.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/cobra-a-life-of-baseball-and-brotherhood-hardback-9781496218735","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}