Can you feeeeeel it… can you feel the love…. nothing feel’s better than feeling the looooove! Yes that’s how I am feeling on this beautiful Wednesday morning and, today is also Willie Wednesday Weekly Legend of the week! Previously stated theses player’s don’t have to be straight up legends or, hall of famers… only someone who catches my eye and I think it would for you too! I hope you enjoy!
Richard ‘Anthony’ Allen, also known as Dick was a two-time athlete in High School and was elected All-State playing guard for his basketball team. When things got serious and decision needed to be made… he chose baseball over basketball simply because, baseball made more money and they wanted to buy their mother a brand new house. Of course like any great player Dick, was drafted right out of high school but as I am trying to find all the draft information it seemed like he was more scouted and just signed to a team and didn’t get drafted. That team happen to be the Philadelphia Phillies and was estimated to make $70,000 his first year with the team… which he did end up buying his mom a house. He made his Major League debut n 1963 after playing a few years in the minors.
Philadelphia Phillies (1963-1969)
- In first Major League season Allen, had one the best Rookie season’s ever. He led the league in runs (125), triples (13), extra bases (80), total bases (352), and finished top-5 in batting average (.318), slugging average (.557), hit’s (201), and doubles (38). And of course he finished out the season winning the Rookie of the Year award. Rookie’s gotta rookie though as he did lead the league in errors (41), while playing first base and third base. A few year’s later in 1965 problems started for Allen and they weren’t baseball related… He got into a fist fight with one of his teammates named Frank Thomas (non related to White Sox). Witness’s said the fight started when Frank swung a bat and hit Allen…. and Allen retaliated and did the same thing… According to Allen and other player’s Thomas, was a bully in the club house and would push the limit’s when it came to racist remarks… The Phillies released Thomas the next day. That not only made the fans and local sports writers see Allen as costing a white player his job, but freed Thomas to give his version of the fight… Year’s and year’s in 2009 Allen sat down with Bob Costas for a 1-hour special and claimed that him and Thomas are friends to this day. After that happened some of the Phillies’ own fans, known for being tough on hometown players even in the best of times, Initially the abuse was verbal, with obscenities and racial epithets. Eventually Allen was greeted with showers of fruit, ice, refuse, and even flashlight batteries as he took the field. He began wearing his batting helmet even while playing his position in the field, which gave rise to another nickname “Crash Helmet”, shortened to “Crash”. Towards the end of his Phillie day’s Allen almost ended his career in 1967 after mangling his throwing hand by pushing it through a car headlight. Allen was fined $2,500 and suspended indefinitely in 1969 when he failed to appear for the Phillies twi-night doubleheader game with the New York Mets. Allen had gone to New Jersey in the morning to see a horse race, and got caught in traffic trying to return.[11] (He was reinstated, but wanted to be traded. Due to problems in having a trade made right then, he agreed to finish the 1969 season with the Phillies.
- 3x All-Star (1965-1967)
- NL Rookie of the Year (1964)
St. Louis Cardinals (1970) // Los Angeles Dodgers (1971)
- Before the 1970 season Allen was shipped off to St. Louis after he was getting sick of what was going on in Philadelphia. Nothing out of the normal for Allen as he preformed at his regular level for the Cardinal’s and gained respect from the club and fan’s. For no specific reason the Cardianal’s agreed to ship off Allen to the Dodgers for 1969 NL Rookie of the Year Ted Sizemore and catcher Bob Stinson, and the LA Dodgers 1966 first round draft pick. I guess you can see why they traded him…. got 2 players, one a Rookie of the Year and a first round draft pick. That year with the Dodgers was quite although he hit .295.
- 1x All-Star (1970)
Chicago White Sox (1972-1974)
- Prior to the 1972 season Allen, was on the move again… this time to Chicago to play for the White Sox. He was traded straight up for a pitcher named Tommy John, yes that same Tommy John who is also known for the revolutionary surgery, now named after him. Before he arrived to Chicago for some reason manager’s would always shuffle is positions… he played first base, third base, and outfield which led to injuries and frustration between the clubs. Chuck Tanner had other idea’s in which, he left Allen alone at first base to focus on his hitting and oh did that work… His first year, his first in the American League, Allen almost single-handily lifted the entire team to second place in the AL West, as he led the league in home runs (37) (setting a team record), RBI (113), walks (99), on-base percentage (.422), slugging average (.603), and OPS (1.023), while winning a well-deserved MVP award. Some also said that Allen, single-handily ‘saved’ the franchise and kept it in Chicago, while it was rumored around that time the club was going to move to St. Petersburg or, Seattle. That same season he won the MVP Allen, was the first and only person in the ‘modern era’ to hit 2 inside the park home run’s in one game. (fricken wow). Everyone had high hope’s for he White Sox to make the playoff’s following Allen’s MVP season but, only to be poorly disappointed after he fractured his fibula in June. Allen’s stay in Chicago ended in controversy when he left the team on September 14 with two weeks left in the season. In his autobiography, Allen blamed his feud with third-baseman Ron Santo, who was playing a final, undistinguished season with the White Sox after leaving the crosstown Chicago Cubs… After drama kept following Allen the White Sox reluctantly sold his contract to the Atlanta Braves for only $5,000, despite the fact that he had led the league in home runs, slugging (.563), and OPS (.938). Allen refused to report to the Braves and announced his retirement.
- 2x All-Star (1972-1974)
- AL MVP (1972)
- 2x AL home run leader (1972, 1974)
- AL RBI leader (1972)
Philadelphia Phillies (1975-1976)
- Allen returned to the Phillies after they managed to pry him out of retirement. His leg was still hampered with the injury from the year before but, at best he put up average numbers for the ball club and the Phillies won the division that year.
Oakland Athletics (1977)
- Allen only played in 54 games that season still putting up descent numbers in that time… (31 RBI’s and 5 HR’s). He never finished the season and everywhere I read about how it ended, he left abruptly.
It seemed like day one of Allen’s life he fought diversity in which the time it was pretty bad back in the day when it came to racism. He did play minor league ball in Little Rock, Arkansas and at that time was when the riots and all that stuff was going on. Allen fought though it all… It seemed like trouble always followed him and besides him stepping up for himself, he seemed like a pretty nice guy. Some coaches didn’t use him well and on the other hand sometimes thing’s didn’t work out on off the field with some of his team mates… Allen had so much raw talent in him that I believe had he been able to clear his head and focus only on baseball, he could have hit 600 home runs… at the end of the day you couldn’t knock his game on the field. FUN FACT: ***Allen swung a 44-ounce bat, one of the heaviest in major league history, and he used it to pound the ball like few players who have ever lived. There are stories of him hitting home runs well over 500 feet.*** To this day Dick Allen has not been elected into the Hall of Fame… in 2014 he appeared on the ballot but, was never voted in. A great player and also a very bad ass looking one as well. He was Inducted into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame (1994).
Easy Read 