Former Phillies great dies at 78

Dick Allen, a seven-time All-Star with the Phillies and White Sox, died Monday after a long illness. He was 78.

Allen was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1972, batting .308 with a league-leading 37 home runs, 113 RBIs, 99 walks and .603 slugging percentage, while leading all of baseball with a .420 on-base percentage, 1.023 OPS and 199 OPS plus.

Allen finished his 15-year career with a .292 average, 351 home runs, 1,119 RBIs and a .912 OPS. He also played for the St. Louis Cardinals and Oakland A’s.

Allen was born March 8, 1942, in Wampum, Pennsylvania., in a baseball-loving family. Two of his brothers, Hank and Ron Allen, also played in the major leagues.

He earned the National League Rookie of the Year award with the Phillies in 1964, when he led the league with 125 runs scored, 80extrabase hits and 352 total bases. He finished in the top five that season in batting average (.318), slugging percentage (.557), hits (201) and doubles (38) while committing a league-high 41 errors in his first season playing third base.

Former teammate Rich “Goose” Gossage called Allen “the greatest player I’ve ever seen play in my life” and said he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

“Dick Allen played with fire in his eyes,” Gossage told USA Today Sports. “He’s the smartest baseball man I’ve ever been around in my life. ... There’s no telling the numbers this guy could have put up if all he worried about was stats.”