Baseball star Dick Allen dies at 78

Dick Allen, a rookie sensation with the Philadelphia Phillies who later won the American League’s Most Valuable Player Award and was considered one of the most talented and misunderstood baseball players of the 1960s and 1970s, died Dec. 7 at his home in Wampum, Pa. He was 78.

His death was announced by the Phillies, for whom he played nine years. He reportedly had cancer.

Allen was among the most feared hitters of his generation, playing in an era that included such renowned sluggers as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey,Harmon Killebrew and Reggie Jackson.

He hit 351 home runs during his 15-year career and was named to seven All Star teams. Some baseball historians have called Allen the best player not enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

He wore glasses and, at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds, was not especially imposing, but “I remember being intimidated by him,” former pitcher Steve Blass told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2017. Allen came to the platel with a 42-ounce bat, a good eight ounces heavier than most players used.

“He looked mean and he looked strong and he looked like he could beat you up,” Blass said. “And he crushed the ball. I’ve heard other players say he might have been the strongest guy they ever saw.”

For much of his career, Allen’s efforts to claim a measure of personal independence and racial pride led the conservative baseball establishment to label him a troublesome irritant. His first organization, the Phillies, had been the last team in the National League to integrate, a full decade after Jackie Robinson had broken baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

The Phillies’ publicists bestowed the name “Richie” on Allen, much to his dismay. After joining the Chicago White Sox in 1972, he asked to be called “Dick,” the name he had used since childhood.

In 1963, the Phillies assigned Allen to their top farm team, then in Little Rock, Ark. He was just 21 and had the added pressure of being the first Black professional player on a predominantly White team in Arkansas. He was greeted with racist taunts, the windows on his car were shattered and the air was let out of his tires.

“Maybe if the Phillies had called me in, man to man, like the Dodgers had done with Jackie Robinson,” Allen said in a 1989 autobiography, written with Tim Whitaker, “at least I would have been prepared. Instead, I was on my own.”

Still, he persevered, and by the end of the year was called up to the major league club. In 1964, his first full season with the Phillies, Allen hit .318, with 29 home runs and scored a league-leading 125 runs. He was named National League Rookie of the Year and became Philadelphia’s first African American baseball star.

During the next season, Allen confronted a White teammate, Frank Thomas, over a perceived racial slight, and punched him the jaw. Thomas retaliated by striking Allen in the shoulder with a baseball bat.

The Phillies released Thomas, but many fans took his side in the dispute, and Allen was branded a malcontent. Nevertheless, he continued to excel on the field, recording 40 homers and a .317 batting average - both career highs - in 1966. His time in Philadelphia, however, was marked by growing dissatisfaction, including a steady stream of hate mail.

“I can play anywhere — first, third, left field — anywhere but Philadelphia,” Allen said.

Over the years, he broke team rules and threatened to sabotage his career. He showed up late for games, missed flights and on at least one occasion was unable to play because he had been drinking. At one point, he was suspended for 26 games.

“He could handle a high fastball,” manager Gene Mauch said of Allen. “It was the fast highball that gave him trouble.”

Mauch was fired in 1969 in part because of his inability to keep Allen under control. Mauch’s replacement, Bob Skinner, resigned under similar circumstances. When George Myatt became the Phillies’ third manager in 1969, he said, “Good God hisself couldn’t handle Richie Allen.”

Fans threw coins and bottles at Allen on the field, leading him to wear a batting helmet at all times. After the 1969 season, he was traded to St. Louis, then a year later was shipped to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He ended up with the White Sox in 1972.

The Chicago manager, Chuck Tanner, who had known Allen since his childhood in Pennsylvania, allowed him to set his own schedule, as long as he was ready to play by game time. The relaxed mood was evident in one of Sports Illustrated’s most memorable cover photographs, showing Allen in the dugout in full uniform, juggling three baseballs, with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Allen was eating a chili dog in the clubhouse when the call came for him to pinch-hitter in the bottom of the ninth. As predicted, he belted a game-winning three-run homer off reliever Sparky Lyle as nearly 52,000 fans cheered.

In a year dominated by pitching, Allen led the American League in home runs (37) and RBI (113) and other statistical categories, such as on-base percentage and slugging. He easily won the MVP Award.

At 30, he was baseball’s highest-paid player, at $225,000 a year. Slowed by a broken leg in 1973, he bounced back the next season to lead the American League in home runs.

Allen returned to Philadelphia for two seasons, mentoring future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, before finishing his career with the Oakland A’s in 1977.

Richard Anthony Allen was born March 8, 1942, in Wampum, Pa., a small town about 35 miles north of Pittsburgh. After his father left the family, his mother took in laundry and raised nine children on her own.

During his youth, Allen practiced batting by hitting rocks with a broom handle. He worked on farms and developed a lifelong love of horses. An all-state basketball player in high school, he was recruited by more than 50 colleges but signed with the Phillies for a bonus of about $60,000. (Two of his brothers, Hank and Ron, also played major league baseball.)

After his playing career, Allen trained horses and worked as a minor league instructor for the Phillies. The team retired his uniform number, 15, in September.

Allen failed to earn enough votes on the Hall of Fame ballot, but new forms of statistical analysis have led to a reevaluation of his career. In 2014, a Hall of Fame veterans committee considered Allen for enshrinement, but he fell short by a single vote.

His marriage to Barbara Moore ended in divorce. They had three children, including a daughter, Terri, who was killed in a murder-suicide in Prince George’s County, Md., in 1991. Allen’s survivors include his wife, the former Willa King; a complete list of survivors could not be confirmed.