Former Phillies great Dick Allen returns to Philadelphia for a game in 2017.
                                 Matt Slocum | AP file photo

Former Phillies great Dick Allen returns to Philadelphia for a game in 2017.

Matt Slocum | AP file photo

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Richard Allen Jr. has a dream, and it’s one that can finally come true if the voters on the Golden Days Era Ballot elect his dad, Richie “Dick” Allen, into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Voting will take place later this year, and if all goes well, Dick Allen will finally be enshrined in Cooperstown in July 2021.

The elder Allen, who is now 78 years old, was one of the heroes of my youth. I became a Philadelphia Phillies fan in 1964, Allen’s Rookie of the Year season, when I followed him, Johnny Callison, Jim Bunning and Chris Short through a heartbreaking second-place finish behind the pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals.

Allen played 15 years in the major leagues for the Phillies, Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics.

During a dead-ball era when pitching dominated and 30 home runs were often more than enough to lead the league, Allen hit 351 homers, knocked in 1,119 runs with 1,848 hits, a .292 career batting average (quite impressive for a big-swinging power hitter like Allen), a .378 on-base percentage, .534 slugging percentage, and a .912 OPS.

The 1964 National League Rookie of the Year and 1972 American League Most Valuable Player, Allen was a seven-time All Star with ten seasons of at least 20 homers, six with at least 30 homers, and one with 40 round trippers. He led the National League and American League multiple times in various statistics including on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, home runs, runs batted in, runs scored and total bases.

Importantly, his career statistics compare favorably to – and often exceed – those of other players of his era who are already enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

I watched in awe as many of his homers not only left the playing field, but flew all the way out of Connie Mack Stadium into the Philadelphia night. I watched him run the bases expertly, both fast and smart enough to go from first to third with ease and steal a base when needed.

I also watched as he was described as a malcontent, perhaps the result of him being a proud black man during the volatile 1960s when the battle for civil rights was regularly front page news. Richard Allen, Jr. believes this has played a significant role in his father not receiving the needed support of the Baseball Writers of America voting members during Dick Allen’s time on the hall’s regular ballot.

“My father was perhaps the most misunderstood man in the history of professional sport,” Allen Jr. says. “He somehow developed a reputation as a bad teammate, a guy who caused trouble in the clubhouse. I’ve come to understand, though, that he was a dedicated ballplayer whose actions were often misinterpreted.

“Why else would Hall of Famer Goose Gossage call him the best teammate he ever played with? Why else would Phillies manager Gene Mauch insist my Dad never caused a problem? Why else would the Phillies invite him back at the end of his playing career to help their young players adjust to playoff competition? And why else would he be credited with saving the Chicago White Sox franchise with his MVP season in 1972?”

Why, indeed? The Black Ink Test, named because league leading numbers are traditionally represented with boldface type and highlighted by baseball statistics expert Bill James, measures how often players led the league in a number of important statistical categories.

Dick Allen ranks 70th all-time in this insightful test, better than 33 current members of the Hall of Fame including several of his contemporaries: Ernie Banks (73rd), Lou Brock (76th), Roberto Clemente (88th), Johnny Bench (109th), Billy Williams (132nd), and Willie Stargell (142nd). There is no doubt that Banks, Brock, Clemente, Bench, Williams and Stargell are bonafide Hall of Famers.

And no doubt that Dick Allen is as well.

The Hall of Fame Career Standards Test measures the overall quality of a player’s career as opposed to singular brilliance (peak value). Again, Allen scores impressively with a score of 36, the same as hall of fame members Roy Campanella, Tony Lazzeri, Kirby Puckett, Pee Wee Reese, and Hack Wilson; and better than Jackie Robinson, Orlando Cepeda and Earl Combs.

Baseball historian Bill Jenkinson is convinced that Allen is more than worthy of making the hall of fame. “Based upon the record of batsmen without the benefit of performance enhancing drugs – PEDs – Dick Allen is the single mightiest hitter that Major League Baseball has produced in the last half century,” he says.

Many among baseball’s royalty are similarly impressed by Allen’s accomplishments and career. Willie Mays says Allen could hit a ball farther than anyone he’s seen and insists, “Richie Allen was and still is a Hall of Famer as far as I’m concerned.”

Gossage calls Allen, “the greatest player I ever saw play the game.” Mike Schmidt refers to Allen as “one of the most talented, intimidating, smart, well-rounded, five-tool baseball players in history.” In addition to calling Allen a great competitor and among the best players and professionals, Tony Perez calls Allen “a good friend, great guy and true gentleman.”

Chuck Tanner, Allen’s manager with the White Sox, paid him the ultimate compliment, saying, “Dick was the leader of our team, the captain, the manager on the field. He took care of the young kids, took them under his wing. And he played every game as if it was his last day on earth.”

Dick Allen was a complete player. He could hit for both average and power, run swiftly, field the multiple positions he played in the major leagues (third base, outfield and first base) well, and had a good throwing arm until a shoulder injury hampered him. You didn’t want to miss any of his at-bats, as you never knew if a tape measure homer or an opposite field extra-base hit was coming.

The Hall of Fame honors the best players of the game. The Hall is definitely lacking without having Dick Allen among those so recognized.

David Jolley is the author of ‘A Good Cup of Coffee … Short-time Major Leaguers and Their Claims to Fame.’