Parke Swartzel

Parke B. Swartzel (November 21, 1865 – January 3, 1940) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played one season in Major League Baseball for the American Association's Kansas City Cowboys in . In addition to his one major league season, he played six seasons of professional baseball at the minor league level.

Career Born on November 21, 1865, as Parke B. Swartzel in Knightstown, Indiana, US, he began his first of professional baseball season in 1886, at the age of 20, with the Leavenworth Soldiers of the Western League. He began the 1887 season with the Soldiers, however he is also credited with playing for the Lincoln Tree Planters, another Western League team. The Cowboys finished the season with a win–loss record of 55–82 with two ties with Swartzel making 48 appearances as a pitcher, starting 47 and completing 45. Swartzel had a win–loss record of 19–27, 147 strikeouts and a 4.32 ERA, in 410 innings pitched, and allowed a league-leading 481 hits, and 21 home runs, along with 334 runs, 197 earned runs and 117 bases on balls. He made his final major league appearance on October 14, a 7–5 victory over the Colonels. He died on January 3, 1940, in Los Angeles, California, US, and is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.