A really good pitcher, and one of those left-handers who proved that southpaws could be successful at Fenway Park. I did not realize that Parnell was the one who came up with the phrase "Pesky Pole" for the right field line at Fenway.

My dad used to talk about him.

Just looking at Parnell's numbers, appears like he was a solid 200-250 IP guy for 6 seasons. Then his games and IP dropped signifantly for 3 years and was out of baseball. Arm injury?

http://www.baseballtoddsdugout.com/parnell.html
One day in 1954 against the Washington Senators, Parnell was hitting against former Boston teammate Mickey McDermott. McDermott was traded to Washington for Jackie Jensen in December of 1953.

McDermott hit Parnell with a pitch. The ball broke the ulna bone in Parnell's left arm, and he would suffer from elbow problems the final three years of his career.

too bad about his injury. i bet today's rehab and training techniques would have extended his career.

In 1949, Parnell led the league in wins as his Red Sox battled down to the wire for the American League pennant. They faced their nemesis, the New York Yankees, who would go on to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in that year’s World Series.

Parnell was the Red Sox season in micro form that year. He beat the Yankees on the penultimate Sunday of the season to give himself a 25-7 record and put the Red Sox into first place. But in the last five days of the season with the pennant in the balance, he first wild pitched home the winning run in Washington, then blew a 4-0 lead in New York in what would have been the pennant clinching game, and then gave up 2 runs to the Yankees without retiring a batter in relief on the final day of the season, converting a 1-0 deficit into a 3-0 game and eventually a 5-3 loss.