In my opinion, the bespectacled slugger was among the five best hitters in baseball history to remain outside the Hall of Fame, along with Shoeless Joe, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds and Ross Barnes.
No longer.
Because he played in the second deadball era and his career was relatively short, the less scholarly baseball fans don’t know just how good Allen was. I will direct you to the baseball-reference section on lifetime OPS+, which adjusts the hitting performance of players based on their era and their specific ballparks. You will notice that Dick is rated just higher than three guys you may have heard of: Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Joe DiMaggio. In the exact same category as Aaron, Mays and DiMag? That’s not in the “pretty good” category. It’s in the “very best of tier one” category. Based on OPS+, he was the best hitter in baseball for a span of eleven years, 1964-1974, and he was the AL MVP in 1972. That sumbitch could flat-out rake.
And he did so with Mantle-like power. On July 6, 1974, he smashed one into the roof facade in left center field at Tiger Stadium. The spot where it landed was 415 feet from home plate and 85 feet in the air.
So why wasn’t he already in the Hall?
First, his defense was as bad as his offense was good, which is kind of surprising for a guy who originally played shortstop in the minors, but he just never got the hang of defense. My grandmother used to say of my grandpa that he spoke six languages, all poorly. Dick Allen was like that. He played six positions, all poorly. (Maybe seven. There’s no official record of him in right field, but I bet he got out there a few times and bungled just as badly as he did everywhere else. Outfield innings by exact position were not always recorded diligently.)
More important than his defense was the fact that he was thin-skinned and could be an ornery man. He didn’t always get along with the press. He feuded with the fans in Philly, and they booed him. He got into a fight with a teammate. He had a serious drinking problem. He was once found at the racetrack when his team was supposed to be playing. He missed team flights and buses. He sometimes wouldn’t take batting practice or play in exhibition games. He flat-out refused to play DH, even though it was obviously the position he was born for. Whose fault was all of that? Dick gets some blame. External forces get some as well. He was pushed hard by fans (especially in Philly), by sportswriters, and by racist assholes in general – and he was not one to suffer that gladly.
On the other hand, many teammates and managers said that all of the negatives were exaggerated or untrue, that Dick was a good guy, kind-hearted and liked. His SABR bio covers his successes as well as his controversial behavior.
So should he be in the Hall? As my man Dalton used to say, “Opinions vary,” but it’s safe to say that his reputation gets better every year now, because the bad memories of him have faded and will continue to do so, while his hitting feats endure.
I was living in Chicago in 72, and even made a couple of trips to the old Comiskey and saw one of Allen’s HRs. That was a fun surprise White Sox team that Allen carried but they just weren’t in the same class as the A’s.
What a guy, saw him during his brief StL Cards period…famously quoted “If a horse won’t eat it, I don’t want to play on it.” Also who could forget the June 12 1972 SI cover where where he’s smoking a cigarette and juggling three baseballs in front of the White Sox dugout?
My dad (RIP) came of age during the Go-Go White Sox era of the late 1950s and used to tell me he never saw a player hit a ball harder than Dick Allen.
allegedly one of the heaviest bats in MLB history at 40 oz
Many people said the same. On those occasions when Dick deigned to take BP, everyone in the ballpark stopped whatever they were doing to watch, including all the players on both teams.
It’s a shame he couldn’t get inducted while he was alive. I feel the same way about Pete Rose. Considering how much money baseball teams earn from gambling, MLB let Pete in the Hall. Honestly, every time I hear a gambling commercial or, worse, an announcer talk about an in-game parlay, my disgust level increases a bit more. However, much as it was inevitable that Vito Corleone couldn’t prevent drugs from being sold in NYC, once gambling was legal, there was no chance teams wouldn’t take advertising money from the bookies (there’s a lot of money in those apps). I suppose it is hypocritical of me to be disgusted by gambling commercials while I am celebrating the New York Mets signing Juan Soto for $765 million. I am sure Fan Duel will be paying a significant part of that contract. If I recognize my hypocrisy, the owners should recognize theirs and let Pete in the Hall.
Albert Belle is sort of a ’90s version of Allen. Not as many off the field issues but close. Not as bad a defender, but not a good one. Belle had a lifetime OPS+ of 144, and from ’91-’99 it was 151. His 162 game average was .295/.369/.564 with 40 HR, 130 RBI and 41 Doubles. The problem is he only played parts of 12 seasons and in 1539 games. Allen played in 1749.
The press hated Belle and the feelings were mutual. Belle did some bad things. But one wonders if 20-30 years from now people will look back on his career and wonder why he doesn’t have a plaque in Cooperstown.
Do you think people will eventually have the same thoughts about Sheffield, Manny, McGwire, Bonds and Palmiero?
Time seems to heal all wounds. People used to know that Todd Helton would have been a .280 hitter with 19-20 homer power if he had played anywhere else, but over time the Coors effect was forgotten and people just looked at his raw numbers – and voted him in.
Albert is the only man ever to hit 50 doubles and 50 homers in the same year – and he almost did it a second time.
Speaking of Chicago/Cleveland Albert also had a corked bat. 😛 But yes, that ’95 tribe team was murder’s row, Belle, Lofton, Manny, Carlos, Eddie, Thome, Vixquel, Alomar. Remember Albert hitting a grand slam, bottom of the 9th, two outs trailing by three. Might have also been a 3-2 count.
When I gave up on the Indians and started rooting for the Reds (big red machine) 1969 also remember Tony Perez, 2003 IIRC, 1st game of a double header vs SF bottom of the 9th, two outs trailing by three, 3-2 pitch ~ grand slam.
Reason started routing for the Reds was listening to a game, WLW, 1969, a Sunday and the Reds beat the Phillies 19-17. OK, any team that can give up 17 runs and still win is my new team lol. Also could pick up WGN Chicago, KDKA Pittsburgh, KMOX St Louis, WBZ Boston ie Bobby Orr, Bruins ~ digressing.
And yes, once upon a time was a diehard Pete Rose fan, but seriously, he was such a schmuck! Again, digressing …
The 1999 Tribe actually scored 1009 runs to the 95 teams’ 860, patrly due to the normal season length. But the 95 Tribe also gave up the fewest runs in the league; 99’s pitching was mediocre at best.
The 1999 team was eliminated in the playoffs by maybe the greatest single-game performance of Pedro Martinez’ career:
” With the series tied at two games apiece, Martínez was too injured to start the fifth and final game. However, neither team’s starter was effective, and by the middle of the fourth inning, the game was tied 8–8. At this point, Martínez entered the game as an emergency relief option. He pitched six no-hit innings, striking out eight and walking three, as the Red Sox won the deciding game of the series 12–8.”
The Indians had an awesome 1 through 5 that year. Lofton, Vizquel (hit .333!), Robby Alomar, Ramirez and Thome. But the only starter with a sub 4 ERA was Colon at 3.95.
As for Albert: great player, greater jerk. A lot of Indians fans had a “Don’t let the door” attitude when he was a free agent. And with Ramirez and Thome both coming into their prime, it wasn’t like they were going to become hitless wonders. A few years ago, Albert/Joey was going to be inducted with others into the Indians HOF. Not long before the ceremony, he informed the team that they were going to have to move their date because of the Belle Family Reunion. Somehow that didn’t happen.
The 1999 Indians scored more than every other team of the integration era, excepting only the 1950 Red Sox.
(Those Red Sox were truly extraordinary: (1) They scored all of those runs in a shorter season; (2) Ted Williams was injured in the All-Star Game and missed the entire second half of the season!)
The 1996 Indians and the 2000 Indians are also among the top 12.
It’s an interesting list in that it includes some of the greatest teams in history, like the ’53 Dodgers and the ’98 Yankees, but also includes .500 teams. In the steroid era in Coors, 950 runs were not enough to produce a winning team!
This is easily explained by the comparable list of runs allowed.
The Rockies have the top five NL teams on Santa’s naughty list.
The 1996 Rockies appeared on both lists. They scored 961 runs – and allowed 964!