1980 and was hitting over .300 early in the first half of the season. Although Carlton Fisk finished first in the fan voting, Earl Weaver, manager of the American League All-Star team, selected Parrish as a backup catcher for the American League. It was the first of eight All-Star appearances for Parrish. Parrish finished the 1980 season with a career-high .286 batting average. He also ranked among the league leaders with 34 doubles (seventh), 64 extra-base hits (eighth), a .499 slugging percentage (ninth), and 24 home runs (ninth). Despite otherwise impressive batting statistics, Parrish ranked second in the league by grounding into 24 double plays and ranked fourth with 109 strikeouts. At the end of the 1980 season, he won the first of his six Silver Slugger Awards as the best hitter at the catcher position. Defensively, Parrish led the American League catchers in passed balls (17) for the second consecutive season. After the 1980 season, Sparky Anderson opined that Parrish was "starting to come around," but he's "not a superstar." Anderson said that, while Parrish had a great arm and an opportunity to become a superstar, "it's going to take an awful, awful awful lot of hard work – especially in receiving." Contract extension In January 1981, Parrish complained publicly about his annual salary. He noted that, despite his All-Star performance in 1980, his $90,000 salary was far lower than other major-league catchers such as Darrell Porter ($700,000 a year) and Jim Essian ($1.2 million for four years) and a fraction of the $2.8-million contract the Tigers gave to Alan Trammell for seven years. General manager Jim Campbell responded angrily to Parrish's public comments, asserting that the Tigers had offered Parrish a multi-year contract that would have paid him in excess of $375,000 per year. In April 1981, Parrish signed the richest contract in the team's history – $3.7 million for six years. In 1981, after signing the record-setting contract, Parrish's batting average dropped by more than 40 points to .244, and his slugging percentage dropped by more than 100 points to .394. Offensive rebound in 1982 After missing most of April with stained ligaments or tendons in his catching hand, Parrish came back strong, carrying a .309 batting average by late May. He was selected to the American League All-Star team and threw out three National League baserunners (Steve Sax, Dave Concepción, and Al Oliver) to set an