RIP Dick Allen

[Baldkin]

Passed away yesterday after a battle against cancer. One of the absolute greats who played in the wrong time.

 

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/reckoning-with-dick-allen-1942-2020/

 

His career 156 OPS+ matches those of Willie Mays and Frank Thomas, tied for 14th among players with at least 7,000 plate appearances, but Mays (12,496 PA) and Thomas (10,075 PA) played for far longer than Allen (7,315 PA). The comparative brevity of his career left him with modest hit and home run totals (1,848 of the former, 351 of the latter) that made it easier to downplay the impact of his raw batting line (.292/.378/.534), compiled during a pitcher-friendly era. Hall of Fame voters of all flavors bypassed him more often than not.

 

The Phillies had sent him to Triple-A Little Rock, where he not only became the first Black professional baseball player in the state of Arkansas, but also was subjected to watching Governor Orval Faubus, infamous for his role in resisting desegregation, throw out the first pitch on the night of his debut. Allen had to endure picketing, racist taunts, and death threats.

 

When the Phillies finally retired Allen’s No. 15 on Sept. 3, Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, who played with Allen during his second stint in Philadelphia (1975–76), paid tribute, calling him “an amazing mentor,” and advocating for his election to the Hall. “Dick was a sensitive Black man who refused to be treated as a second-class citizen… [negative] labels have kept Dick Allen out of the Hall of Fame. Imagine what Dick could’ve accomplished as a player in another era, on another team, left alone to hone his skills, to be confident, to come to the ballpark every day and just play baseball.”

[sveumrules]

The Wampum Walloper was before my time, so I never saw him live with my own two eyes, but he might just be thee most underrated hitter in MLB history posting a league best 163 wRC+ & 435 batting runs from 1964-74, topping the like of Hank Aaron (158/421), Frank Robinson (158/414), Willie McCovey (158/376) & like a dozen other HOFers for that eleven year stretch.

 

Highly recommend the link Baldkin posted above to anyone looking to learn more about an individual whose story is still sadly all too relevant all these years later.

[Austin Tatious]

Thank you for that link. Great read. As a kid, I had just become a fan when he was in the twilight of his career. I remember his baseball cards and the second big memory I have of him is the fact that the media invariably referred to him as moody, mercurial, enigmatic, complicated etc., as accurately chronicled in that story. I used to read a ton of sports periodicals and books at the time, including Sport Magazine and the Sporting News.

 

So I can absolutely vouch for the fact that the Fangraphs piece was very accurate about the negative portrayal of him by the press. The baseball press in that era tended to have folks who were too big for their britches.

 

It’s a pity that the lasting image the press laid on him to readers like me (as a young kid) was their characterization of his personality and not what a splendid hitter he was.

 

In addition, the overt racism he (and others) faced is mind numbing and confounding. He had some other rough moments.

 

RIP Mr Allen

[StearnsFTW]

Most underrated hitter ever. It's a crime that guys like Harold Baines are in the HOF and he's not. I've been spouting this forever.

 

RIP.

[homer]

Here is a photo of Dick smoking a dart while juggling baseballs in the dugout. Dude was ripped:

 

[JohnBriggs12]

Dick Allen was without a doubt one of the most feared hitters in baseball for about a 10 year period. Definitely belongs in the Hall of Fame. Should have happened years ago. A total oversight.

 

His brother Hank was a Brewer in 1970. Unfortunately Hank didn't get the power gene of Dick. But I do remember him coming to the plate shortly after he was acquired. I don't know if it was in honor of the more famous Hank A. to play in Milwaukee, but as a Brewer, Hank Allen wore #44. He kind of looked like Aaron stepping into the box with the familiar 44 on his back. Baseball was back in Milwaukee even though Hank Allen wasn't Aaron or Dick Allen, that's all the mattered at the time.