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Richard Anthony "Dick" Allen was an American professional baseball player. During his fifteen-year-long Major League Baseball career, he played as a first baseman, third baseman, and outfielder, most notably for the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox, and was one of baseball's top sluggers of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Allen was named an All-Star seven times. He began his career as a Phillie by being selected 1964 National League (NL) Rookie of the Year and in 1972 was the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player with the Chicago White Sox. He led the AL in home runs twice; the NL in slugging percentage on
Richard Anthony "Dick" Allen was an American professional baseball player. During his fifteen-year-long Major League Baseball career, he played as a first baseman, third baseman, and outfielder, most notably for the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox, and was one of baseball's top sluggers of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Allen was named an All-Star seven times. He began his career as a Phillie by being selected 1964 National League (NL) Rookie of the Year and in 1972 was the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player with the Chicago White Sox. He led the AL in home runs twice; the NL in slugging percentage once and the AL twice; and each major league in on-base percentage once apiece. Allen's career .534 slugging percentage was among his era's highest in an age of comparatively modest offensive production. His career 156 Adjusted OPS ranks 23rd all time. His contemporaries ranged from Hank Aaron, Carl Yastrzemski, Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Willie Stargell, Willie McCovey, and Billy Williams who were older and started before him, to younger players like Johnny Bench, Reggie Jackson, Bobby Bonds, and Mike Schmidt.
Allen faced racial harassment while playing for the Phillies' minor league affiliate in Little Rock; residents sent death threats to Allen, the local team's first black player.
Some Phillies fans, known for being tough on hometown players even in the best of times, exacerbated Allen's problems. 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".
His time in Philadelphia saw the accrual of controversies as he got in a fight with popular player Frank Thomas in 1965, forcing the Phils to trade Thomas, and Allen later became the focus of critics in part because he was the team's best player and fans tend to blame their team's best player when it fails to win, but mainly because of racism at a time when social tensions were at a boiling point in the United States.
October 7, 1969: Allen was traded by the Philadelphia Phillies with Jerry Johnson and Cookie Rojas to the St. Louis Cardinals for Byron Browne, Curt Flood, Joe Hoerner and Tim McCarver. Curt Flood refused to report to his new team. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Willie Montanez (April 8, 1970) and Jim Browning (minors) (August 30, 1970) to the Philadelphia Phillies to complete the trade.
October 5, 1970: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Ted Sizemore and Bob Stinson.
December 2, 1971: Traded by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the Chicago White Sox for Steve Huntz and Tommy John.
After three terrific years with the Chicago White Sox—including an MVP season in 1972—Allen walked out on the team on September 14, 1974, abruptly announcing his retirement.
In spite of his leaving in a cloud of bitterness after the 1969 season, it quickly turned out that the Phillies were the only team interested in his services, and a deal was worked out with the Braves , who had purchased Allen's contract from Chicago, in May 1975, allowing Allen to resume playing. He was greeted enthusiastically by the team's fans, but did not hit much at first after his long lay-off and his defensive play at first base left a lot to be desired. He finished at .233 with 12 homers and 62 RBI, well below his production of the previous few years, but as the team had one of its best seasons in years, he escaped criticism to a large extent.
In 1976, the Phillies reached the postseason for the first time since 1950, winning the NL East crown, but Allen was more a distraction than a contributor. His defensive woes pushed manager Danny Ozark to give Tommy Hutton playing time at first base in April, to which Allen reacted by refusing to enter a game when asked to serve as a pinch-hitter. He split time with Bobby Tolan, but his offensive contribution was not much, and he was dropped to seventh in the lineup. He went AWOL at the end of July, at which point Ozark fined him; he returned and explained he was injured, so the fine was dropped as he went on the disabled list, not returning until the first week of September. During that time, he accused the Phillies of not giving enough playing time to black teammates Tolan and Ollie Brown, and when he returned, he failed to hit much, going through a 3 for 40 streak. When the Phillies clinched the division title, he refused to celebrate with the rest of the team, putting on a private celebration with only a few close friends in a tiny room besides the visiting team's clubhouse. He then said he would not play in the postseason unless Tony Taylor, who had de facto retired and was serving as a coach, was added to the roster. The rift, which threatened to split the team along racial lines, was resolved when the Phillies officially made Taylor a coach. The Phillies were swept by the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS, and Allen was not retained for the following season.
Dick Allen concluded his career by playing 54 games for the Oakland Athletics in 1977, during which he hit .240 with 5 homers.
He finished with a career stat line that was lackluster as Hall of Fame consideration goes and with a reputation as a clubhouse mood killer.
Allen has been considered for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame, most notably in December 2014 and December 2021, for the induction classes of 2015 and 2022. He fell one vote short of election each time, receiving 11 votes from 16-member committees, when 75% (12 votes) is the threshold for election.
The Philadelphia Phillies retired Allen's uniform number 15 on September 3, 2020. He died three months later.
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