Parker Reported to Be One of Players Queried During Drug Hearings

Former Pittsburgh Pirates star Dave Parker was among nearly 30 major league baseball players who were questioned in a two-year Pittsburgh federal grand jury investigation into illegal drug transactions, Sports Illustrated reported this week.

It has been previously reported elsewhere that between 10 and 12 players testified before the grand jury, whose findings are expected to be released soon.

Authorities have evidence of cocaine deals in bars, hotels and the parking lot at Three Rivers Stadium, Sports Illustrated said in its May 20 issue.

The magazine said the targets of the investigation are suppliers, not users. Many of the players who testified were granted immunity from prosecution in return for their cooperation.

One of the alleged dealers is said to have worked as a food caterer in the clubhouse of another National League team and traveled to other cities to make deals with players both in the clubhouse and in hotel rooms.

The magazine said large sums of money were involved--tens of thousands of dollars a year in some cases.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also reported that Parker, who spent more than 10 seasons with the Pirates before joining the Cincinnati Reds two years ago, was among the witnesses to appear before the grand jury.

Parker, with the Reds in Montreal, declined comment when asked about his appearance and referred questions to Sam Reich, a Pittsburgh-based attorney who has accompanied several of the players before the grand jury.

Reich is the brother of Tom Reich, who is the agent for several players, including Parker. Attempts to reach the brothers for comment were unsuccessful.

Three of the players who testified before the grand jury--Lonnie Smith of the St. Louis Cardinals, Tim Raines of the Montreal Expos and Rod Scurry of the Pittsburgh Pirates--have undergone treatment for cocaine abuse.

Other players who have appeared before the grand jury are Al Holland and Lee Mazzilli of the Pirates, former Pirates Dale Berra of the New York Yankees and Lee Lacy of the Baltimore Orioles, Enos Cabell of the Houston Astros, Jeff Leonard of the San Francisco Giants and Keith Hernandez of the New York Mets.

Among the bars named in the Sports Illustrated story as locations for alleged drug-purchase negotiations were Chauncy’s and Houlihan’s, in Pittsburgh’s fashionable Station Square, and Michael J’s Pub.

Station Square is a waterfront development on the Monongahela River that contains restaurants, bars, shops, a hotel and an office complex on a site of a major railroad station.

Michael J’s is located in a small shopping center about 10 minutes by car from Three Rivers Stadium.

Managers of the bars, while acknowledging that players were frequent customers, said they had no knowledge of alleged drug deals at their establishments.

Houlihan’s manager Robert Wolfinger said: “The teams do frequent Station Square, but concerning any involvement they had with drugs, we have no knowledge. We don’t want that kind of image.”

Wolfinger said neither he nor any other Houlihan’s employee has been contacted by the FBI or been subpoenaed by the grand jury.

“Players come in here a lot, and a lot of money is spent otherwise, but we don’t know about any drug deals,” said Kevin Wade, Chauncy’s manager. “Our image is clean-cut . . . a ‘Big Chill’-era type bar that has a college graduate crowd. We obviously don’t want criminals and drug pushers coming in here.

“If we had known about this, we would have done something to stop it. We are very concerned. This is not good publicity,” Wade said.

When told about the Sports Illustrated story, a woman at Michael J’s Pub, who identified herself as the manager but refused to give her name, said: “I have nothing to say. I don’t know why we’re in there. We have no reason to be in there. They’re wrong, pal.”

The magazine quoted a source close to the investigation as saying that at the start, the suppliers “weren’t big guys . . . they were people who liked to associate with ballplayers and who liked cocaine. For them, it was a match made in heaven. They ended up with a big business because of their clientele.”