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.

[1][2] He began the 1887 season with the Soldiers, however he is also credited with playing for the Lincoln Tree Planters, another Western League team.

[2] For the 1888 season, Swartzel played for the Kansas City Blues of the Western Association, a class-A level league.

[1][3] 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.

[2] This was his last season, on record, of his professional baseball career, although he was noted to have been released by the Grand Rapids Rustlers of the Western League in May 1896.