Dick Allen was known back then as Richie Allen. A name that we are not quite sure as to how he got, as he was known as Dick growing up. Allen was born in Wampum, Pa; about 40 or so miles north of Pittsburg. His brothers Hank and Ron also played ball. Allen played ball MLB ball; 8 years after the famous Jackie Robinson retired. Baseball crowds were still rough towards African Americans in the mid 60’s, and owners back then really had a choke hold on the treatment of ball players. Allen was constantly harassed by the fans. He would get anything from garbage to flashlight batteries thrown at him eventually causing him to wear his batting helmet all the time. (Just go to show how nasty folks can be)
I remember Allen, because it was 1964, and the Phillies were doing a job on the league until September. If I am correct, I remember Richie Ashburn and By Saam as the announcers back then. He always use to say that Allen had the heaviest bat in the league, which was a 40 ounce bat. Dick Allen won Rookie of the Year award in 1964; one of the only fortunate thing about the Phillies that year along with Jim Bunnings perfect game against the Mets.
Allen was a big time hero to the young Afro-American kids in Philadelphia. Kids would always try to mock that hulking stance he had at the plate. Allen in his rookie year had a slugging percentage of .557, he hit 29 homeruns and had a batting average of .318.
Looking at Allen’s stat’s during his career in a era where offensive production was low, he was considered a high impact player with his production of offense. When you look at the hall of fame and players in it, you wonder why he hasn’t been inducted. There are plenty of other hall of famer’s whose stats don’t even compare to his. Considering some of the comparison; it is not quite clear why he isn’t in the Hall of Fame.
After Allen was traded to traded from the Phillies to the St. Louis Cardinals after having enough with the Phillies. Later he would be asked back to help the Phillies out in the 1975 campaign. Dick Allen was known for his tape measured home runs. He once homered off of Cub’s pitcher Larry Jackson; a towering shot over the left field Coke sign(red sign) shown in the picture above that measured 530 feet. More on Dick Allen-click here
What do you think? Should Allen be inducted in the Hall of Fame? I think so.
Baseball back then was confined to 20 teams- National League 10 teams and the American League 10 teams. There was no baseball playoff’s, or wildcard. You get the best record, you won the pennant race and you faced the other league in the best of 7 in the World Series. Playoffs were initiated in the 1969 season and later expanded again 1994 and 2012 to include more wildcard entries.
