Former Phillies, White Sox great Dick Allen posthumously inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame
Former Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox great Dick Allen was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday in Cooperstown, New York.
Allen, who died in 2020 at the age of 78, played for five MLB teams during his 15-year career, but spent the majority of his time in Philadelphia, where he played for nine seasons. He also played in Chicago for three seasons with the White Sox from 1972-74.
"For Dick, the fans meant everything," Allen's wife, . "He always wanted to show, especially the young ones, that it's not about where you come from, but where you're determined to go."
Allen, a Wampum, Pennsylvania, native, slashed .292/.378/.534 with 351 home runs, 1,119 RBIs and a .912 OPS in his 15-year MLB career. He was a seven-time All-Star, the 1972 American League MVP with the White Sox, and was named National League Rookie of the Year with the Phillies in 1964. He played first base, third base and left field.
Allen had the fifth-most home runs (319) over an 11-year span (1964-74) behind four Hall of Famers: Hank Aaron (391), Harmon Killebrew (336), Willie Stargell (335) and Willie McCovey (327). His .940 OPS during that time was second to Aaron's .941.
Allen led the AL in home runs in 1972 and 1974. In the 1972 season, he also led the AL in RBIs. Allen hit at least 20 homers in 10 of his 15 seasons, and had a stretch from 1964-72 where he recorded at least 20 home runs in nine consecutive years.
"When he was just a child, his teacher asked the class what they wanted to be when they grew up," Willa Allen said. "Dick stood up and said, 'I want to be a Major League Baseball player.' Then, he sat down. The other kids laughed because at that time, there weren't any Black players in the major league. But he didn't laugh. He believed it. And now, look at him."
It's been a long time coming for Allen to finally get his plaque in Cooperstown.
Before getting inducted into the Class of 2025, Allen had fallen short of in 2014 and 2021 by one vote.
The Phillies retired Allen's No. 15 in a ceremony at Citizens Bank Park in 2020, months before he died. At the time, Phillies managing partner John Middleton said he broke the team's longstanding "unwritten" policy of only retiring the numbers of players who are in the Hall of Fame.
"I thank the city of Philadelphia. Even though it was rough, I've made some friends along the way," Allen said at the ceremony.
During his nine years with the Phillies, Allen fought against racism amid a tumultuous time in the country. He played in Philly from 1963-69 and came back for two seasons in 1975-76.
At the ceremony, Phillies Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt said that Allen was an amazing mentor who was wrongly labeled a "bad teammate" and "troublemaker."
"Dick was a sensitive Black man who refused to be treated as a second-class citizen," Schmidt said in his speech in 2020.
"He played in front of home fans that were products of that racist era (with) racist teammates and different rules for Whites and Blacks," he added. "Fans threw stuff at him and thus Dick wore a batting helmet throughout the whole game. They yelled degrading racial slurs. They dumped trash in his front yard at his home. In general, he was tormented, and it came from all directions. And Dick rebelled."
Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner and Dave Parker were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame with Allen as a part of the Class of 2025.
