Everyone loves a trophy. In 1960, Topps created an All-Rookie Team and the baseball cards of outstanding young players had trophies added to their pictures.
There were a pair of National Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees on the squad 40 years ago along with several all-stars and most valuable players.
The fifth member of the 1975 team to be profiled in the this series is Larry Parrish.
Larry Parrish was signed as a free agent in 1972 by the Montreal Expos. Parrish was called up to the big league club in September of 1974 at the age of 20.
In 1975, Parrish finished third in the National League Rookie of the Year voting after hitting 10 homers with 65 RBI and a .274 batting average.
Parrish had an all-star season in Montreal when he hit 30 home runs and had 82 RBI with a .307 average in 1979. Two years later, he was a part of the Expos squad that made it to the post-season.
Before the 1982 season, Parrish was traded to the Texas Rangers for Al Oliver. On July 4, 7 and 10 of that year, he tied Jim Northrup‘s major league record from 1968 with three grand slams in a week.
Parrish was an all-star for the Rangers in 1987 before being released in the middle of the next year. He was signed by the Boston Red Sox and played in the 1988 post-season against the Oakland A’s in his final season.
As a manager, Parrish led the Detroit Tigers in 1998-1999. He was inducted into the International League’s Hall of Fame as a manager in 2013.
Next up in the series: Tom Underwood of the Philadelphia Phillies.