Dick Allen, a seven-time All-Star slugger whose fight against racism during a tumultuous time with the Phillies in the 1960s cost him on and off the field, died Monday. He was 78.
The 1964 NL Rookie of Year and 1972 AL MVP had a lengthy illness while at home in Wampum, Pennsylvania.
Allen hit the ball so hard, fans in Philadelphia started showing up in batting practice during his rookie season just to watch him hammer shots over the Coca-Cola sign atop the left-center field roof at Connie Mack Stadium.
The rousing attention, he got that early. The rightful acclaim, sadly, he had to wait much longer.
Allen’s No. 15 was retired by the Phillies in September, an honor that was considered way overdue by many for one of the franchise’s greatest players.
Phillies managing partner John Middleton broke from the team’s longstanding “unwritten” policy of only retiring the number of players who are in the Hall of Fame to honor Allen. In 2014, Allen fell one vote short of Cooperstown in a Hall committee election.
Allen batted .292 with 351 home runs, 1,119 RBIs and .912 OPS in 15 seasons. He played first base, third base and left field.
After seven years in Philadelphia, Allen played a season each with the Cardinals and Dodgers.
In 1972, he joined the White Sox and was an immediate hit in winning the AL MVP. Allen led the AL in homers (37), RBIs (113), on-base average and slugging percentage.
His impact was felt on the diamond and in the stands. Chicago finished second in the AL West that year with 87 wins and drew nearly 1.2 million fans; two years earlier, the White Sox were 56-106 and only 495,000 people came out to Comiskey Park to see them.
Allen had the fifth-most home runs (319) over an 11-year span (1964-74) behind four Hall of Famers: Hank Aaron (391), Harmon Killebrew (336), Willie Stargell (335) and Willie McCovey (327). His .940 OPS during that time was second to Aaron’s .941. He finished his career with Oakland in 1977.
Allen wasn’t elected into the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and he fell one vote short in Golden Era Committee voting in 2014. The Golden Days Committee and the Early Days Committee did not vote this year because of COVID-19 and instead will meet during the winter of 2021.
In his only postseason appearance, Allen went 2 for 9 as the Phillies got swept in three games by Cincinnati in the 1976 NL Championship Series.
Allen nearly made it to the World Series as a rookie, but the ’64 Phillies notoriously blew a 6 1/2-game lead in the NL with just 12 games remaining. While Philadelphia lost 10 in a row and closed in a 2-10 slump, Allen hit .429 (21 for 49) in that span.
Two of Allen’s brothers played in the majors. Hank was an outfielder for seven seasons, mostly with the Washington Senators, and Ron had a total of seven games for the Cardinals.
