Almost everybody who watched Dick Allen play knew he was one of the greatest players in baseball history.
It took too long for Allen to make the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He died in Dec. 2020, but got his bronze plaque in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., in 2025.
Here are 10 of the greatest moments in Allen’s career, in no particular order (although there are certainly many more):
1. 1964 NL Rookie of the Year
Allen had one of the greatest seasons by any rookie in baseball history. He batted .318 with 38 doubles, 13 triples, 29 home runs, 91 RBIs, 125 runs scored, 201 hits and a .939 OPS in 1964, leading the league in runs, triples and extra-base hits (80). He posted 8.8 WAR, according to Baseball Reference. Mike Trout (10.5 WAR in 2012) is the only player in baseball history to post a higher WAR in a rookie season.
2. 1972 AL MVP
Allen batted .308 with 28 doubles, five triples, 37 home runs, 113 RBIs, a .420 on-base percentage, a .603 slugging percentage, a 1.023 OPS and 8.6 WAR. He led the AL in WAR, home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and walks (99). He led MLB in on-base percentage, OPS and OPS+ (199). He nearly single-handedly led the White Sox to the AL West title.
3. Touch ‘em all
Allen hit two inside-the-park home runs on the road against Minnesota’s Bert Blyleven on July 31, 1972, at Metropolitan Stadium.
4. Crushed it
Allen had prodigious power, and on May 29, 1965, he hit an estimated 529-foot home run over the Coca-Cola sign at Connie Mack Stadium. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that it was “a tremendously high drive toward left-center that just kept going and going. It cleared the soft drink sign atop the left field stands by plenty, cleared the roof and landed well up on Woodstock Street.”
5. Slammed it
Allen crushed his first big league grand slam off the top of the 75-foot-high Ballantine Beer scoreboard in right-center field at Connie Mack Stadium on July 8, 1965.
6. Chili dogged it
Allen hit a pinch-hit homer against Sparky Lyle, after earlier eating a chili dog on July 4, 1972.
"I was eating a chili dog when I heard [manager] Chuck [Tanner] wanted me to hit," Allen said. "I had chili all over my shirt so I put on a new one and a pair of pants with no underclothes."
What did he do after that?
"Sparky Lyle threw me a slider and it wound up in the seats."
7. All-Star blast
Allen homered in the second inning of the 1967 All-Star Game to give the NL a 1-0 lead at Anaheim Stadium. It was the seven-time All-Star’s only home run in the Midsummer Classic (16 at-bats).
8. Phillies retire Allen’s No. 15
Tired of waiting for the Hall of Fame to honor Allen, the Phillies retired his No. 15 in a 2020 ceremony, just months before he died on Dec. 7, 2020. Previously, the Phillies had an unofficial policy of only retiring numbers of players in the Hall of Fame.
9. Another bomb
Legendary Phillies PR guru Larry Shenk said on July 9, 1967, that Allen “became the first player to hit a home run over the center-field fence between the stands and the flagpole at Connie Mack Stadium since the fence was raised to 32 feet in 1934."
10. Finally, he’s in
Allen is elected into the Hall of Fame on Dec. 8, 2024. His family celebrated.