R.I.P. Mel Parnell

[skooter]

Just heard on New Orleans TV that Mel Parnell passed away today at age 89, after a battle with cancer. I know at one time he was the winningest LH pitcher in Red Sox history. Does anyone know if he still holds that record?
May he rest in peace.

[tjb1952tjb]

Yes, Mel Parnell is the Red Sox all-time winningest left-handed pither with 123 victories.......and 4th winningest pitcher overall. Only Cy Young, Roger Clemens, and Tim Wakefield have won more games for the Red Sox.


RIP Mel.................

[Scott Garner]

I'm sad to see Mel Parnell go. He was a peach of a guy and an excellent TTM signer.
Below are two items in my personal collection that Mr. Parnell signed for me over the last 6 years:

The first is a ticket to the no-hitter that he pitched on July 14, 1956 while he was on the Red Sox. It's somewhat ironic that Mr. Parnell succeeded in throwing this no hitter so late in his career as 1956 was his last year in ML baseball. This ticket was extremely difficult for me to locate- it literally took me 28 years to find one! I'm really glad that I was able to get Mr. Parnell to sign it for me before he passed away at 89.

The second item is my favorite baseball card of Mr. Parnell that he signed TTM.

Vintage Red Sox Nation loyalists might remember that Mel was a Yankee killer. In 1953 Mel Parnell pulled off the improbable feat of shutting out the 1953 Yankees four times in one year. I actually own a ticket from 9/19/53 at Boston which was Mel's 4th shutout vs. the Yanks in '53. He became the 1st pitcher since Walter Johnson in 1908 to Whitewash NY for the season. Great stuff!

[pclpads]

Slightly OT, but still on the subject of Parnell . . . does anyone know why he doesn't have a '56 Topps card? The stat box on the back of his '57T shows he had an active season in '56. Also, his '57T #313, is an oddity, in that Parnell retired after the '56 season. The card is in the later series, so presumably, Topps would have had adequate time to pull it from the '57T set.