EASLEY — When you talk about the best power hitters in the history of Easley baseball, the name of Hank Parks quickly storms to the forefront.
Parks, nicknamed “Hammerin’ Hank” for the last several years, hit a total of 55 home runs in his American Legion Post 52 baseball career. He once hit five-straight home runs … three-straight against Greenwood and then two-straight against Pelzer Williamston.
“I had the privilege of being the Little League President when they (the Parks family) moved to Easley (from North Carolina),” said Gregg Powell, who also coached Parks in legion ball, too. “From the time he was 9 (years old) and in Little League, he was a big kid. Some is God-given ability and you can’t teach that. He hit 20 home runs (for the legion team at age 16) his sophomore year which is unheard of. Even in batting practice, he hit 13 (h0me runs) in a row. Hank had unbelievable power.”
Combined with the God-given ability, Parks was a huge fan of power-hitter Mark “Big Mac” McGwire and of lifting weights. Hank still has three baseball jerseys of McGwire (one of the Oakland As and two of the St. Louis Cardinals), several baseball cards, tons of tshirts of McGwire and a signed plate of when he met him in person. Plus as a kid, he saw McGwire play four times in person and he studied the home run swing of McGwire.
Not to be overlooked, though, is that at age 13 Parks convinced his parents (Mike and Sally) to get him weights to lift that was setup in their garage. It was for mainly his upper body and then he had the squat rack at the school for his legs.
“No one outworked me in the weight room,” Parks said. “In high school, they had to kick me out of the weight room.”
Parks had a ritual before every legion baseball game, too. He’d get home from school, lift weights, and warm up his swing with a 5-pound sledge hammer that his dad bought for cutting wood at home. This was all during the time when the Incredible Hulk was popular and pro wrestling.
Not to be overlooked, though, is how the sport of football helped Parks in baseball. He did not go out for football at EHS his junior year. However, at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, Parks started his senior season at defensive tackle for the Green Wave varsity football team and he often faced opponents on the O-Line who were 60 and 70 pounds heavier than him.
Parks went on to play baseball at Spartanburg Community College and set the single-season mark for home runs (25) and the career mark (36).
Most memorable home run: The game was played at Alice Mill Park and Parks hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against Greenville Post 3. But later in the game (in the bottom of the 12th inning), Parks hit another bomb (over 500 feet and past the trees) to win the game. It was past that memorable yellow house, too. The home run stories of Hammerin’ Hank are classic, which also features (on a different night) the local cops being called after his monster home runs (at Alice Mill Park).
Did you know? Back in 2004, “Hammerin Hank” was sent a letter from the San Diego Padres for a free agent signing. At the time, it was a $1,500 signing bonus and Parks still had two more classes until he graduated from the University of South Carolina. Hank chose to finish out his schooling.
Thoughts on the late Justin Bray: Hank said growing up in Easley, Justin was a year older and they played all the sports together (football, basketball and baseball) and legion baseball together. “He (Justin) was our lead-off guy,” Parks said. “(He was a) sure-handed glove and had a cannon for an arm. He could do everything.”
Weightlifting marks: Just eight years ago, Parks benched 470 pounds and squatted 600 pounds.
(Please note: Hank Parks will also be attending the Post 52 American Legion event on Friday, May 29 at the J.B. Red Owens Sports Complex.)