Dick Allen will hopefully soon be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, like Ron Santo, he will not be able to enjoy his ceremony.
Allen should have been inducted long ago, but in 1997, his final year on the ballot, he received just 16.7 percent of the vote – he would have to be inducted just as Santo was, by the way of the Veteran’s Committee (or whatever it is called this year).
Over the course of his 15 year career, he totaled just 1,749 games, but during his relatively short career, his performance was among, if not exceeding, the best in the game. He led all of baseball in wins above replacement (WAR) during two over-lapping ten-year periods, from 1963-72 and 1964-73, sandwiched between Henry Aaron and Willie McCovey. In fact, every single player before him to EVER lead any ten-year period in WAR is enshrined in the Hall of Fame, likewise, every player after him until you get to Barry Bonds from 1985-94.
From 1871 to 1995, just 23 players had put together five or more qualified seasons batting at least .300/.375/.550, of the 23, 22 are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the odd man out – Dick Allen.
Of the 1,020 players in MLB history to amass at least 5,000 plate appearances, Dick Allen ranks 59th in WAR per 162 games played at 5.437, with fellow third basemen Chipper Jones just to his north at 56th (5.530 WAR/162) and George Brett to his south at 69th (5.302 WAR/162).
There are just four players to maintain at least a 150 OPS+ over the course of a career spanning 7,000 or more plate appearances who are NOT in the Hall of Fame:
- Barry Bonds – 182
- Mark McGwire – 163
- Dick Allen – 156
- Manny Ramirez – 154
And for what it is worth, the next three on that list are Joey Votto (149), Miguel Cabrera (147), and Albert Pujols (146).
Now, most of you know my feelings on PEDs and the “steroid era.” Nonetheless, we are left with four names above – four names steeped in controversy.
Manny Ramirez, of course, had two failed tests when baseball had standards and testing for PEDs. Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire, I contend, were victims of the time in which they played, enabled by Bud Selig and Major League Baseball. Dick Allen, too, was a victim of his time, but in a far more egregious manner.
Often, now, BBWAA members invoke the character clause to justify why they did or did not vote for an individual, something that, today, is generally viewed through a subjective lens. But this is nothing new, the character clause is, in my opinion, what kept Dick Allen out of the Hall of Fame, and did so in a manner that is objectively wrong.
Dick Allen is not in the Hall of Fame because he was an outspoken black man during a time when black players were expected to keep quiet and play ball — that was his controversy, and it is complete bullshit.
He had a reputation for being difficult to work with, often called a “troublemaker” or a “bad teammate” by those covering him. The truth is, to borrow from Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, who I have been fortunate enough to get to know and to discuss the Hall of Fame cases of the likes of both Dick Allen and Jim Kaat, “[he] was a sensitive black man who refused to be treated as a second-class citizen.” Schmidt credits Allen both as an excellent mentor off the field and role model in terms of his on field play.
I credit Allen as a baseball pioneer, and I credit him as someone who refused to take any shit. And I hope the Major League Baseball, an organization that now so proudly holds itself in the highest regard for equality, soon rights a long time injustice, granting him enshrinement.
Rest in peace, Dick Allen, you’re a Hall of Famer in my book.
As a final aside, I view Dick Allen as MLB’s version of NFL’s Cookie Gilchrist. Cookie played at a Hall of Fame level both in the Canadian Football League and the National Football League. He has been robbed of recognition in Canton to this day, and when he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, he refused induction because of the way that he had been treated as a black man. He, too, didn’t take any shit. If you wish to read more about Cookie Gilchrist, please read my piece, “Stats Wizard: ‘Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie’ by the numbers,” on him for the Buffalo News, published on Sept. 22, 2017.
