Phillies great Dick Allen has another shot at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Dick Allen’s 42-ounce bat will once again take another step into the Hall of Fame as the former Phillies slugger is once again eligible for induction.

Allen, who died in 2020, was one of eight players named in Monday’s vote of the Hall’s Classic Baseball Era Committee. To be introduced, a candidate must receive 75 percent of the votes from the eight-member committee. They will meet on December 8 at the baseball Winter Meetings in Dallas.

Allen fell one vote short on similar committees in 2014 2021. De Hall said the candidates for the Classic Baseball Era were those “whose primary contributions to the game came before 1980.” Joining Allen are Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Steve Garvey, Vic Harris, Tommy John, Dave Parker and Luis Tiant.

Boyer, an 11-time All-Star, topped Johnny Callison for the 1964 National League MVP Award with the world champion Cardinals; Donaldson was a prominent Negro League pitcher who helped create a barnstorming business model; Garvey won four Gold Gloves and was the 1974 National League MVP with the Dodgers and was the MVP of the 1978 and 1984 NLCS; Harris played 18 seasons in the Negro Leagues, winning seven Negro National League pennants and the 1948 World Series with the Homestead Grays; John was a four-time All-Star and ranks eighth all-time among pitchers with 700 career starts; Parker was the 1978 NL MVP with Pittsburgh, winning three Gold Gloves and hitting 339 home runs over 19 seasons; Tiant had four 20-win seasons and won two ERA titles in the American League.

Allen grew up in Western Pa. and was the National League’s Rookie of the Year for the 1964 star-crossed Phillies. He hit 204 of his 351 home runs with the Phillies, some of which famously crossed the Coca-Cola sign at Connie Mack Stadium.

He was one of the best hitters of his generation, as his 165 OPS+ led the majors from 1964 to 1973, better than all-time greats like Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew and Willie McCovey. Allen’s 155 wRC+, meaning his offensive production was 55% better than league average, ranks 18th all-time, just below Mel Ott’s and just above Willie Mays.

He won the American League MVP in 1972 with the White Sox and was a seven-time All-Star. But his Hall of Fame case failed in 1983 – his first year of eligibility – when only 3.7% of writers voted for him. Allen was on the ballot for fourteen years and never received the 75% needed for enshrinement.

Allen did not get along well with some baseball writers during his career and his advocacy for Cooperstown was often mocked by claims that he was a distraction to his teams. There was the time he suffered a hand injury pushing his car, the two-game doubleheader he missed after spending time at the horse track, the batting cage fight with teammate Frank Thomas, and the time he was in danger of missing the postseason if the Phillies haven’t added Tony Taylor to the roster.

But what Allen overcame – a season of racist taunts in the minor league in Arkansas, followed by being one of the first African-American Phillies during the racially charged 1960s, and playing on the field wearing a batting helmet to protect against projectiles – had just can be so well appreciated. just as much by the writers.

Allen drafted his request to be traded in the dirt near the end of the 1969 season, but returned to Philadelphia in 1975 just as the core of the 1980 championship team was coming together. Mike Schmidt thanks Allen for helping him relax; Larry Bowa said Allen pushed the young players in the right direction; and Larry Christenson called him a silent leader.

“He always built me up,” Garry Maddox said. “You play with certain players who, even though they are stars, can still take you to the next level. Pete Rose was the same way. Pete Rose knew all his stats, but he knew when you needed a pep talk. Dick was always there for me.”

“If someone like Dick Allen wants to talk to you or thinks you’re worth his time, that in itself is huge. He was one of the most influential people in my growth. Not necessarily as a football player, but as a person.”

Allen turned sour on the Hall of Fame after years of being left out. He was inducted into the Negro League Hall of Fame in 2018 and considered it the ultimate honor. The Phillies retired Allen’s number 15 in September 2020, three months before he died. That was enough, he said. But his son Richard said three years ago that his father would still have appreciated a bronze plaque in Cooperstown, New York. He will get another chance next month.