Philadelphia Phillies: 50 greatest players of all-time
1B. 1963-69, 1975-76. Dick Allen. 13. player. 6.
It’s hard to ignore Dick Allen when you’re talking about the greatest Phillies of all-time after he played nine of his 13 seasons in Philadelphia. Despite his best seasons coming with the Chicago White Sox, where he won an MVP, Allen has been a legend in the City of Philadelphia since the 1964 season when he became the first African-American baseball star in the city.
Allen had a monstrous rookie campaign for Philadelphia in 1964 and was an MVP candidate at the age of 22. Starting 162 games at third base, Allen led baseball with 13 triples, 125 runs scored and 352 total bases for a 92-win Phillies club that collapsed at the end of the year. He finished seventh in the MVP race, three points behind Willie Mays and more than 100 points behind teammate and MVP runner-up Johnny Callison.
Allen still holds Phillies’ rookie records for games played, runs, hits, total bases and slugging percentage. For a short time there, he held the home run record for a rookie with 29.
Four additional strong seasons followed for Allen in Philadelphia, averaging 34 home runs per 162 games and a .300 batting average in his first stint with Philadelphia.
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Each of the next three offseasons Allen was traded around the National League, starting with Philadelphia sending Jerry Johnson, Cookie Rojas and Allen to the St. Louis Cardinals on October 7, 1969. Byron Browne, Willie Montanez, Jim Browning, Joe Hoerner and Tim McCarver came back to Philadelphia in the deal. Montanez broke Allen’s rookie home run record.
Allen had five successful years between St. Louis, Los Angeles and Chicago before returning to Philadelphia for the 1975 and 1976 seasons. The great slugger retired after the 1977 season following a couple of games with the Oakland Athletics.
Many have touted Allen should be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but he fell one vote short on the 2015 Golden Era ballot. Already in his late 70’s, Allen will have to wait until December 2020 for the Golden Era ballot to be reintroduced for the Hall of Fame Class of 2021.
Allen is 10th on the Phillies all-time home runs list, third in slugging and seventh in oWAR. He was inducted onto the team’s Wall of Fame in 1994.