[1] Parks turned to umpiring after his career as a player was ended by a torn Achilles tendon he suffered during a pick-up basketball game in college.
In 1979, he (along with Fred Spenn, Derryl Cousins and John Shulock) were brought up to the American League as replacement umpires during the strike that season.
[2] Parks worked as an American League umpire until 1982, when Parks resigned (becoming the third replacement umpire to leave the game; Fred Spenn was fired in 1980 and National League umpire Steve Fields was fired in 1981) rather than continue to be subject to the harsh treatment accorded him and the other replacements (referred to as "scabs" by the regular umpires because of crossing the picket lines) and a scathing rebuke of his abilities by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner after a series in August 1982 against the Toronto Blue Jays when Parks ejected Oscar Gamble and Roy Smalley on consecutive days.
For umpire Parks to throw two of our players out of ballgames in two days on plays he misjudges is ludicrous".
He returned to work games during the umpire labor actions in 1991[3] and 1995 in addition to running two different minor league teams in North Carolina.