Dick Allen

At 78 years old, Dick Allen has this physical status:

Richard Anthony Allen (born March 8, 1942) is an American former professional baseball player.

During his 15-season Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he appeared primarily as a first baseman, third baseman, and outfielder, most notably for the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox, and is ranked among his sport's top offensive producers of the 1960s and early 1970s. Allen was an All-Star in seven seasons.

He won the 1964 National League (NL) Rookie of the Year Award and the 1972 American League (AL) Most Valuable Player Award.

He also led the AL in home runs for two seasons; led the NL in slugging percentage one season and the AL in two seasons, respectively; and led each major league in on-base percentage, one season apiece.

His .534 career slugging percentage ranks among the highest in what was an era marked by low offensive production. Allen's older brother Hank was a reserve outfielder for three AL teams; his younger brother Ron was briefly a first baseman with the 1972 St. Louis Cardinals. In 2014, Allen appeared for the first time as a candidate on the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Golden Era Committee election ballot for possible Hall of Fame consideration in 2015.

He and the other candidates all missed getting elected by the committee.

Allen was one vote short of the required 12 votes needed for election.

The Golden Era Committee met and voted on 10 selected candidates from the 1947–1972 era every three years, until being replaced by the Golden Days Committee, in 2016.

The Golden Days Committee is scheduled to vote next in 2021, for induction into the Hall’s Class of 2022.Allen was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2004.

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MLB career

John Ogden, a Philadelphia scout, persuaded the Phillies to trade Allen in 1960 for a $70,000 bonus. Ogden played for the Baltimore Orioles from 1919 to 1925, under Jack Dunn, the discoverer of Babe Ruth; Ogden later pitched against Ruth in the American League. Allen was the only player he ever saw who hit a ball as well as Ruth, according to Ogden in a Philadelphia Bulletin story published on July 1, 1969.

Allen was racial harassed while playing for the Phillies' minor league affiliate in Little Rock; the local team's first black player, Allen, was killed.

His first full season in the majors, 1964, ranks among the top rookie seasons ever. Allen led the league in runs (125), triples (13), extra base hits (80), and total bases (352); Allen finished in the top five in batting average (.318), hits (201), and doubles (38) and Rookie of the Year (3.28); He led the league with 41 errors, despite playing at third base for the first time. Allen, along with outfielder Johnny Callison and pitchers Chris Short and Jim Bunning, guided the Phillies to a six-and-a-half game on Sunday in an extremely strong National League. The 1964 Phillies lost ten straight games and finished tied for second place in second place. When Chico Ruiz stole home with Frank Robinson batting for the game's only run, the Phillies lost their first game of the season to the Cincinnati Reds. Allen's autobiography (written with Tim Whitaker), Crash: Dick Allen's Life and Times revealed that the play "broke our humps." Allen hit.438 with 5 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs, and 11 RBI in those last 12 games despite the Phillies' demise.

Larry Jackson of the Cubs was credited with a two-run home run off Connie Mack Stadium's left-center field roof on May 29, 1965. Willie Stargell said, "Now I know why (the Phillies fans) boo Richie all the time." There is no souvenir when he hits a home run.

Allen played for Philadelphia and appeared on many All-Star teams, including the 1965–67 teams (in the latter of these three games, he hit a home run off Dean Chance). In 1966, he led the league in slugging (.632), OPS (1.027), and extra base hits (75%).

Allen's Philadelphia career was marred by non-baseball injuries shortly. He and fellow Phillie Frank Thomas became involved in a fist fight in July 1965. Thomas swung a bat at Allen, striking him in the shoulder, according to two teammates who witnessed the match. "Thomas got himself fired," Johnny Callison said as he swung the bat at Richie. You can't swing a bat at another player in baseball—ever." Thomas was hit with a bat, according to Pat Corrales, who said Thomas was a "bully" known for making racially divisive remarks. Allen and his coworkers were not allowed to tell their side of the story under threat of a heavy fine. Thomas was released by the Phillies the next day. Allen was seen as costing a white player his career, not that the fans and local sports writers, but Thomas was freed to provide his own account of the war. Allen said in an hour-long interview with Bob Costas on the MLB Network's Studio 42, that he and Thomas have now become good friends.

Allen's name had been a point of contention: he had been known as "Dick" to family and friends since his youth, but the media referred to him as "Richie" upon his arrival in Philadelphia. Richie was a little boy's name before leaving the Phillies, and he asked to be named "Dick." The label on his records with the Groovy Grooves company referred to him as "Rich" Allen during his two careers as an R&B performer.

Allen's troubles were exacerbated by a few Philadelphia fans who are notorious for being tough on hometown players even in the best of times. Initially, the abuse was verbal, with profanities and racial epithets. As he entered the field, Allen was met with showers of fruit, ice, defiance, and even flashlight batteries. Even when playing his position in the field, he started wearing his batting helmet, which gave rise to another name, "Crash Helmet," which was shortened to "Crash."

After mangling his throwing hand by pushing it through a car headlight, he almost ended his career in 1967. Allen was suspended indefinitely in 1969 after he failed to attend the Philadelphia Phillies' twi-night doubleheader game with the New York Mets. Allen had been riding a horse race in New Jersey in the morning and was stuck in traffic trying to return.

Allen finally had enough and asked that the Phillies trade him. Before the 1970 season, they sent him to the Cardinals in a trade. And this has caused controversies, but not of Allen's, since Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood refused to notify the Phillies as part of the franchise. (Flood then sued baseball in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrowrown the reserve clause and be named a free agent.) Willie Montaez, the player the Phillies received as compensation for Flooding but reporting, hit 30 home runs as a rookie in 1971 to surpass Allen's rookie home run record of 29, which was set in 1964. Allen received his second All-Star berth in St. Louis.

Dick Allen entertained the St. Louis fans for many decades, with at least one of them landing in the club's right field. However, Allen was traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to Allen before the 1971 season for 1969 NL Rookie of the Year Ted Sizemore and young catcher Bob Stinson. Allen had a relatively quiet season in 1971, though the Dodgers went to.295.

Allen was purchased by the White Sox from the Dodgers for Tommy John and Steve Huntz at the Winter Meetings on December 2, 1971. His previous bosses had shuffled him around on defense, playing him at first base, third base, and no particular order – a move that may have harmed his defensive play and possibly contributed to his regular injuries, not to mention his apparent bad attitude. Allen's low-key style of treating ballplayers made it possible for him to flourish on the South Side for a time. Tanner opted to play Allen exclusively at first base, allowing him to concentrate on hitting. Allen nearly single-handedly lifted the entire team to second place in the AL West this year, after winning a coveted MVP award (1.023). However, the Sox fell short at the end of the season and finished 5+12 games behind the World Series-bound Oakland Athletics.

Allen's career with the White Sox, particularly in the 1972 MVP season, are chronicled in this article (it was said to be bound for St. Petersburg or Seattle at the time). His powerful swing brought home runs deep into some of Comiskey Park's farthest reaches, including the roof and even the distant (445 feet (136 m) center field bleachers, a rare feature at one of baseball's most pitcher-friendly stadiums. Allen was the first player in baseball's "modern era" to reach two inside-the-park home runs in a single game on July 31, 1972. In the White Sox' 8–1 victory over the Minnesota Twins at Metropolitan Stadium, Bert Blyleven was struck at both homers. He lined a homer off the roof of a deep left-center field at a length of 415 feet (26 m), on July 6, 1974, Detroit's Tiger Stadium. Allen's clout would have easily surpassed 500 ft (150 m) on the fly, according to anecdotal and mathematical results.

Many people hoped to make the playoffs in 1973, but Allen's hopes were dashed due in large part to his fractured fibula. (He tried to return five weeks after fracturing his leg in a California Angels match with Mike Epstein, but Allen's season came to an end after just one game in which he batted 3-for-5.) Allen's stay in Chicago ended in controversies in 1974, despite being on the AL All-Star team in each of the three years with the Sox, when he left the team on September 14 with two weeks remaining. Allen attributed his rivalry with third-baseman Ron Santo, who was playing a final, undiscipled season with the White Sox after leaving the crosstown Chicago Cubs.

Despite Allen's decision to continue playing baseball, the White Sox reluctantly sold his contract to the Atlanta Braves for only $5,000, despite the fact that he led the league in home runs, slugging (.563), and OPS (.938). Allen did not want to be a member of the Braves and announced his retirement.

Allen was coaxed out of retirement by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1975. His playing was hampered by his layoff and the nagging effects of his broken leg in 1973. His numbers increased in 1976, when he hit 15 home runs and batted.268 in 85 games, a Phillies division champion. During his second go-round with the Phillies, he continued his tape measure tradition. Allen smashed a homer into the rarely reached upper deck at San Diego Stadium on August 22, 1975, the Phillies then defeated the Padres 6-5.

Allen played in 54 games and hit 5 home runs with a.240 batting average in his last season with the Oakland Athletics, before leaving the team abruptly in June of that season. He was playing both games of a doubleheader against the White Sox on June 19 on his last day as a player. He had two hits in five total plate appearances, with his last strike being a single in the eighth inning.

Music career

Dick Allen sung with a delicate tenor. Willie Winfield, Harptones' lead singer, has been compared to his voice and texture. During Allen's time with the Sixties, he was a member of The Ebonistics, a doo-wop band. "Rich Allen and The Ebonistics" performed at Philadelphia night clubs. He performed well during halftime of a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game. A review of his results appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Allen, despite the fact that his music career was not as good or long-lived as that of Milwaukee Braves outfielder Arthur Lee Maye, earned a lasting reputation for his release of "Echo's Of November" (misspelled Echoes) in 1968, which was released in 1968. In the Phillies' official hundred-year anniversary video and the book '64 Intruder,' the song name is included. Ana Volans, a Brazilian pop star, rerecorded Echoes of November; her version sold briskly in Brazil; and Dick Allen's jacket carries a salute to him and his Hall of Fame nomination).

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