Dick Allen - Hall of Fame

A fellow SOM League participant indicated in our league message board that on this date in 1972, Dick Allen hit two inside the park homeruns. It got me to researching about Allen on the Baseball Reference website, and also to search for articles. I didn't realize it until I read it in the Baseball Reference website, but Allen had 351 career homeruns, and it got me to wondering why he was never considered for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Here is one interesting article I found: http://articles.philly.com/2014-05-07/s ... -dirt-fame
Quoting the first two paragraphs of this article:
"DICK ALLEN led the entire cockeyed world of baseball in OPS-plus for 10 years, from 1964 to 1973. His number was 165, higher than Henry Aaron, higher than Willie McCovey, higher than Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente and Willie Mays.
Dominate any phase of the game for 10 years, pitching or hitting or slugging, and you oughta be in the Hall of Fame. Allen is not in the Hall of Fame. The other seven guys are."

I recall that Allen allegedly had a surly attitude (I remember when he went from being Richie Allen to Dick Allen). Did the baseball writers hold a grudge against him?

Probably the best player not in the Hall of Fame.

This is a little before my time but I have done some reading about Allen-pretty much starting from playing this game and wondering who this guy was.

As the article you mentioned touched upon, Allen came into the majors in the period after Jackie Robinson but before everybody was happy to let in black players. There is a famous line that only Jackie Robinson could have been Jackie Robinson. Dick Allen could not have been. He might not have known how to kiss up to the media but, more importantly, he wasn't able to turn the other cheek when being insulted or harrassed and Philly fans did that to him alot.

The worst city for a black player during that period was Philadelphia. It might not be a coincidence that when Curt Flood sued MLB because of the reserve clause it was because he was being traded to Philadelphia for Dick Allen.

One of the more famous stories is that a racist Philly player swung a bat at Allen and was released the next day. Philly fans were mostly upset that Allen cost a white player his job. Stories like this ended up labeling Alen as "uppidy".

Dick Allen partied and was irresponsible but he was remarkably unliked by Philly fans and the media considering how good he was. Then again, maybe thats just Philly. They booed Mike Schmidt too.

Please note that most of the above could just be mininformation I have gathered in my passing interest. I have been meaning to find a book about him but am too lazy.

I'd actually go with Raines, Biggio, and Kent as the best (likely) non-roided, eligible players not in the HOF. As to Allen, (OPS noted) I think he falls short. There are 4 generally accepted standards for admission. Sometimes one is enough, sometimes more are required:

1. Having been considered one of the elite players at their position during their era/and or having been a "dominant player at that position...Dominating any "phase" of the game for ten years has not been a standard for admission.

2. Having had a lengthy career of extended exceptional performance producing HOF-quality career statistics.

3. Career statistics and performance levels similar to HOF members of the same postion.

4. Intangibles: i.e. playoff performance, clutch performance, character, non-baseball achievements and contributions. None of these alone can qualify a player.

As to standard 1, both AKatz and the article make a compelling argument with the 10-yr OPs stretch; that is no small feat. However, Allen still only drove in 100 runs three times and only scored 100 runs twice, and he was a poor defender. He was one of the better offensive players in his time, but his being one of its elite players is debatable at best.

As to standard 2, Allen's stats pretty much tailed off--besides his anomalous 74 season--after 72. His career statistics of 351 hrs, 1119 rbis and a .292/.378/.534 line are only comparable to Ron Santo's among modern HOF 3rd basemen. Considering Santo was a far superior defender and was only voted in by the Veteran's committee, this does not bode well for Allen.

As to standard 3...see the above paragraph.

As to standard 4, Allen did--as many black athletes did and have--suffer from racist attitudes towards black athletes who spoke their mind or didn't speak at all. White athletes with attitude--such as Connors as McEnroe--were considered "colorful" while Allen was "uppity" and Jim Rice and Eddie Murray were "aloof." However, Murray and Rice (after a ridiculous wait) did get in; I don't think intangibles were the deal breaker. Also, Allen only appeared in 3 playoff games where he hit .222, so he has few intangibles actually in his favor.

So, Allen was a great player, and that OPS run was awesome. However, as a HOF candidate, he just falls short.