RIP Dick Allen

I think Allen played in the Old-Timers game at the 1991 All-Star Game in Toronto. I was there with my father and when Allen came up my father said when the Blue Jays came into the league, he predicted Allen would be the first to hit a ball out of Exhibition Stadium.

I had never seen Allen play before that Old-Timers Game but that always stuck with me.

 

For those of us too young to remember his career, was it really just reputation that kept him out of the Hall of Fame? The writers didn't like him?
That's certainly what I've been led to believe, but it seems awfully simplistic.

 

Look up “-Petty Little Bitch” in the dictionary. And Baseball Writer is first, followed by Jan Brady

 

He had statistics that were not appreciated in his “time.”

 

Dick Allen was Philadelphia’s Jackie Robinson | Opinion

 

Dick Allen on artificial turf: “If a horse can’t eat it I don’t want to play on it.”

 

Iconic photo. It was in Life magazine IIRC. Suffice it to say that most of white Philadelphia didn't WANT a Jackie Robinson, and that Allen had no interest in playing that role. He was an individualist. On the other hand, there was the night he came back to the '76 Phillies, hit two homers at the Vet and got like four standing ovations. People change, even in Philly.

 

Found this on Facebook:
Both Richie Allen and Rogelio Moret died today. In 1974, Moret threw a one hit shutout, and his no hit bid was broken up in the 7th inning by...Richie Allen.

 

His last one was "MOM" on the grounds nobody would boo that.