OT R I P Richie "Dick" Allen

[Madmannsucks]

Allen, former NL ROY and AL MVP, dies at 78

Dick Allen died Monday at the age of 78. The former NL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP hit 351 home runs and batted .292 over parts of 15 major league seasons.

www.espn.com

 

[Madmannsucks]

I always thought he was vastly underrated. Good enough to be in the HOF.

 

[Son of Robert]

White Sox, Philadelphia too I think, probably some other teams too

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

Such awesome power. Was behind home plate at Fenway and saw him hit the most amazing long moon shot homer over the monster. The sound of his bat hitting the ball was deafening.

 

[Palatine]

The Philly fans rode him pretty hard. There is a great picture of him playing third base and he has written "BOO" on the infield dirt.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

The Philly fans rode him pretty hard. There is a great picture of him playing third base and he has written "BOO" on the infield dirt.

Note: He is not elected to the Hall of Fame...yet.

 

[storrsroars]

The first pic of Dick Allen that comes into my head is always the one of him on the cover of SI with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Dude was a fearsome hitter, but IMO, only to level of "Hall of Very Very Good". He fell off a cliff in his age 33-35 seasons. His 7 year peak is 40 and should be higher, and career WAR is short of 60. Yes, others with lower numbers have gotten in, but IMO, those were mostly mistakes. If he even had a couple of 2 WAR seasons in those last three years, that likely would have tipped the scales to induction.

 

[chalk1]

Was a kid in 64 (12) when Allen was a rookie in Philly and attended a game at old Connie Mack stadium. Sitting along the left field line when Allen connected and the ball cleared a two deck stadium and the light tower still rising. It was unbelievable and in the paper the next day they estimated it at 660 feet. All I know is I have never seen a shot like that again. Next inning Allen fielded a ball at third and threw over the first baseman's head. Philly fans don't like that kind of stuff.

 

[Waquoit]

He was one of the first players to speak his mind and was punished accordingly.

 

[dennismenace]

Writers and Phillie fans apparently gave him a rough time but his teammates and managers raved about him. Tributes from Mike Schmidt, Goose Gossage, Orlando Cepeda and Stan Bahnsen as well as managers Chuck Tanner and Gene Mauch:

Dick Allen - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[mauconnfan]

Great player and a good person who the writers treated crappy and they have punished him like the idiots most of them were.

An absolute ashame he wasn’t able to have his day at Cooperstown. He probably will now and they should be embarrassed he wasn’t able to be there. RIP Richie

 

[ToolzieFan]

The first pic of Dick Allen that comes into my head is always the one of him on the cover of SI with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Dude was a fearsome hitter, but IMO, only to level of "Hall of Very Very Good". He fell off a cliff in his age 33-35 seasons. His 7 year peak is 40 and should be higher, and career WAR is short of 60. Yes, others with lower numbers have gotten in, but IMO, those were mostly mistakes. If he even had a couple of 2 WAR seasons in those last three years, that likely would have tipped the scales to induction.

The drastic dropoff is a legitimate point to bring up. I’d put him in the HOF, but it’s not quite a slam dunk case. To me, three extra 2 WAR seasons don’t really make someone a Hall of Famer. They’d make his careee numbers better for sure, but don’t add any “greatness”, per se. He’s a guy I’d out in based on just how dominant of a hitter he was at his peak. I’m also more of a large HOF guy, though.
Here’s a detailed look at his career and HOF case for those interested.

Reckoning with Dick Allen (1942–2020)

 

[ToolzieFan]

The first pic of Dick Allen that comes into my head is always the one of him on the cover of SI with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Dude was a fearsome hitter, but IMO, only to level of "Hall of Very Very Good". He fell off a cliff in his age 33-35 seasons. His 7 year peak is 40 and should be higher, and career WAR is short of 60. Yes, others with lower numbers have gotten in, but IMO, those were mostly mistakes. If he even had a couple of 2 WAR seasons in those last three years, that likely would have tipped the scales to induction.

This is a great pic.

 

[60'sfan]

I saw him play in Philadelphia when I was in the Navy and my ship was in Philadelphia for an overhaul. He hit the ball so hard that it knuckled on its was to the outfield and went right over the fielder's head. He was a reason to go to a game at Connie Mack. There were not many others back then,

 

[storrsroars]

The drastic dropoff is a legitimate point to bring up. I’d put him in the HOF, but it’s not quite a slam dunk case. To me, three extra 2 WAR seasons don’t really make someone a Hall of Famer. They’d make his careee numbers better for sure, but don’t add any “greatness”, per se. He’s a guy I’d out in based on just how dominant of a hitter he was at his peak. I’m also more of a large HOF guy, though.
Here’s a detailed look at his career and HOF case for those interested.

Reckoning with Dick Allen (1942–2020)

I think an interesting case is comparing Allen with another controversial HoFer, Ralph Kiner, who got in by one vote in his last year of eligibility. The knock on Kiner was he only played 10 years due to a back injury. But in seven of those years he was absolutely dominant, and a guy you'd pitch around as he was basically the Pirates only offensive weapon most of those years (which led to the famous Branch Rickey quote, "We finished last with you, we can finish last without you.")

During his peak seven years (which were consecutive), he led MLB in HRs in six of those (he also tied for the lead in his rookie season), and averaged 44 HRs, 115 RBI with a .991 OPS and a 160 OPS+. The result of Kiner retiring after 10 years was that his peak WAR was higher than HoFers at his position, but his career WAR and JAWS score were lower. Allen's peak OPS is comparable at .940, although his counting stats are lower (29 HRs and 89 RBI on average). Similar to Kiner, Allen's peak WAR is higher than the average of other HoFers at his position, but his career WAR and JAWS are lower.

Thus, IMHO an argument could be made that if Allen hadn't played those last three years and simply retired due to injury, it might've helped his cause with voters. It worked for Kiner (and Koufax).