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By JOHN NADEL LOS ANGELES (AP) — Steve Garvey, a five-time starter for the National League in the All-Star game, is unquestionably one of the finest first basemen playing major league baseball today. Inadvertently, one of the people most responsible for that is Wes Parker. Parker, a slick-fielding switch-hitter, retired while in the prime of his career following the 1972 season, thus opening the door for Garvey’s surge to stardom. ‘I have no regrets whatsoever on my early retirement,’’ says Parker, still fit and trim at age 38. ‘‘I enjoyed my career fully, but I got mine. It’s part of my past. Parker left a void at first base for the Dodgers, but it only lasted one year. Bill Buckner and Garvey shared the position in 1973. Garvey hit .304 that year and took over full-time the following season. He has been an All- Star ever since. Parker played nine seasons for Los Angeles and was a regular most of that time. His best season was 1970 when he hit .319 and drove in 111 runs. He had a .279 batting average with 59 RBIs in his final year. His career average was .267 and he was a Golden Glove winner as the National League’s finest fielding first baseman in each of his last six seasons. Parker would have been only 33 years old when the 1973 season started. So why did he get out? ‘At that point, I was really tired of the traveling,’’ he says. “‘And most of the guys I broke in with and was really close to were gone.” Parker has been involved in a variety of endeavors since his retirement. He was a baseball announcer for the Cincinnati Reds in 1973, returned as a player in Japan the next year, and performed as an actor with some success and also appeared in commercials the following three years. He reads a lot and plays tennis, bridge and chess. In addition, he has written a book on playing first base and is trying to get it published. But it all seems secondary to golf, a much-enjoyed activity that has become even more than that recently. Parker is the Commissioner of the World Golf Association, formed recently for nonprofessional golfers. They compete in handicap stroke tournaments for up to $3 million in cash prizes. Basically, the WGA is an opportunity for weekend golfers to make big bucks, and Parker is excited about it. “‘I see my functions as two-fold,’’ he says. ‘‘One is to provide a clean, respectable image for the WGA, the other to make sure it runs smoothly, that rules are upheld and to make any necessary decisions. * Membership in the WGA is open to any non professional golfer in the United States over age 21, male or female. Parker and founder Bert Stewart hope for a membership of 200,000. The first competition is scheduled for 1979. Based on a membership of 200,000, first prize in the initial 72-hole WGA Tournament, scheduled for November of 1979 at the El Prado courses in Chino, Calif., is $150,000. Dues are $35, which cover membership through 1979. Plans call for qualifying rounds next spring matching members of foursomes against one another in stroke play at full handicap. The low member in each group advances to the next round, and so on, until there are 200 survivors of the original hoped-for 200,000. The final 200 play in the WGA Tournament. “The qualifying will be done geographically by computer,’’ said Parker. ‘‘First-round winners will not win any money, but winners in the second through fifth rounds win progressively more. Anyone who makes the final tournament is guaranteed a minimum of $4,300.”’ Can the WGA make it? “Nobody knows for sure,”’ says Parker. ‘‘At this point, I’m inclined to think we have a good chance of making it. I can tell you this, it will be 100 percent pure. ““We’re going to spend a lot of time organizing it. The first round will cost the golfers some money, the prize money starts the second round. Qualifying rounds will be held all over the country at local public golf courses. We hope to get some help from local pros. “I'll make a national tour. We eventually hope to tie into a national hotel firm. Dues money will be sent to a bank which will hold it in trust.”’ Stewart contacted Parker with the idea about five years ago. “I’ve been in on this from the beginning,’’ says Parker. ‘‘We’ve been going at this full blast for almost a year. One of the things that convinced me to get in volved was his honesty. We will do everything to keep this thing totally honest.’’ Sandbagging — phony handicaps — could be a problem. “We will try to do everything we can to make sure sandbaggers don’t advance,”’ says Parker. ‘‘That’s the most difficult thing, but we are prepared to adjust handicaps during the competition so there won’t be any sandbagging. “If it doesn’t work I won’t take it as a personal insult. I think it has a good enough chance to go that I want to be a part of it. There’s a tremendous desire for so many people to play for big dough.’’ JUST MISSED—Ed Snow closes his eyes and leans back in disapointment when a birdie putt fails to fall in. Snow finished the first round of the Los Alamos City Championship with a 79. Play continues today with 27 holes in the championship flight.
Newspaper Details
Los Alamos Monitor
Los Alamos, New Mexico, US
Sun, Jul 23, 1978
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Ed S.
USA 12 Sep 2025
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