Great article on Dick Allen
Mphilking
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A. Six
Unfortunately his minor league stint and the atmosphere with the Phils at that time was not conducive to his personal style. He seemed like a guy who took no crap and I guess that wasn't tolerated by a black player on the Phils then.
A real shame.
I recently read the McGinness book on Roberto Clemente. The Pirates trained in Ft. Myers, FL in the 60s, which is now my home. It's absolutely amazing to me how players of color were treated in some places, even deep into the 60s. Sure Florida is the South and Ft. Myers was not then a place for transplants from the Northeast or Upper Midwest like Miami, but the attitude toward these players was horrible.
Guess I was not exposed to much of that where I grew up near Philly.
I am oftened pieved when others expect from us , what they will not nor cannot do. Why expect respect , when that's not one of your own personal habits. How many teammates has Allen praised over the years ? I really wouldn't hold your breath.
I loved him as a player, but felt he would have been better suited in an occupation geared towards his cultural bent. I don't believe in moral equivilacy , as I believe there are alot of bad eggs out there, no matter your culture or upbringing. I have heard it said that " Even a child is known by their doing , wheither they are good or evil ". It does not matter if you are Dave Kingman, Michael Vick , John Rocker , Barry Bonds or Roger Clemons-- a bad egg is a bad egg. To keep hearing " Let Manny be Manny" suggest we should condone someones anti-socal or self centered behavior. In some people's book , thats ok. In my book, NOT. Just because someone is a gifted athlete , doesn't make one a good person. How you get to your goal in life , speaks volumns of your character. Allen didn't have much in the character department.
As stated above, I loved him as a player..............
But he should not be in the Hall of Fame and in my opinion it's not that close.
<< <i>agreed, he is not a Hall of Famer. Hall of the Very Very Good. >>
Yes, not a Hall of Famer.
No, not Very Very Good. He was Great. The Greatest in MLB of his time, in fact.
From 1964-1972, Allen was better than any player of my lifetime not named Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Robinson, Morgan or Schmidt over a 9 year stretch.
In his rookie season, he led the league in Triples, Runs Scored and Total Bases, eight seasons later he was MVP. Plently of league leading performances in between, and some after.
Allen was percieved a "bad apple" by many, greatly affecting his "value" as a ballplayer in many views/opinions, he was only an average defender, and only had six seasons of 140+ games.
His autobiography is entitled "Crash", an interesting read for baseball and/or Dick Allen fans.
1) I don't agree with Bill James's assessment that his attitude did more for losing, than his playing did for winning(however it was worded). When you look at his teammates, his teams did quite fine with what their abilities showed(and what their expected wins should be). He was the only real hitter on some of the Sox teams and how they even won more than 80 games is a complete credit to his playing ability.
2)Allen has some strange quotes in that article. He says how statistics don't tell the whole story(and then uses some stolen bases and runs scored as proof of what he is saying...he used some statistics LOL