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Former American League MVP and seven-time MLB All-Star Dick Allen died on Monday at his home in Wampum, per his official Twitter account. Allen was 78 years old.
Allen is consistently hailed as one of the most overlooked players in MLB history. He was never voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, though he was widely expected to be among those chosen by the Golden Era Committee.
A slugger who played multiple positions, Allen made an instant impact upon breaking into the big leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964. He earned National League Rookie of the Year honors that year and made three consecutive All-Star teams between 1965 and 1967.
Allen would later play for the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox and Oakland Athletics in addition to another two-year stint with the Phillies later in his career. He won AL MVP with the White Sox in 1972, leading the majors in OBP (.420) OPS (1.023) and OPS+ (199) while leading the AL in homers (37), RBI (113) and slugging percentage (.603).
Although Allen boasts excellent career numbers in terms of the counting stats, he really shines as one of the best right-handed hitters ever when looking at advanced numbers. Indeed, Allen ranks seventh all-time in OPS+.
it is not hyperbole to say that Dick Allen is one of the best hitters of all-time, and it's an utter shame that the collective baseball world failed to properly recognize him as such before he passed away pic.twitter.com/PwJbDJnVcE
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) December 7, 2020
There is a sense Allen has been kept out for being a “rebel” and provocative persona in the 1960s and 1970s, though it is fair to wonder whether race played a large role in those concocted images.
In any case, Dick Allen is the latest to join the list of baseball legends who have died in 2020. Hopefully the Golden Era will do its job and finally enshrine Allen in Cooperstown.
