Before Philadelphia Phillies fans got the crushing news that Juan Soto had decided to sign with the New York Mets on Sunday night, we received some exceptionally good news. Former Phillies icon, the late Dick Allen, was finally voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Classic Era Committee elected Allen, who passed away in 2020, posthumously with 13 of 16 votes.
The reactions from Allen's family at the moment the announcement was made on MLB Network was captured by media in attendance at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings. The clips that surfaced on the internet will warm your heart.
Dick Allen’s family celebrating Hall of Fame election is incredible
The Philadelphia Inquirer's Scott Lauber posted this candid video of Dick Allen's son, Richard Jr., and the family:
From Dallas, the moment Dick Allen’s son, Richard Jr., found out his late father is a Hall of Famer. Finally. pic.twitter.com/rMsRSCAwtG
— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) December 9, 2024
You can feel the raw emotion through the screen. It's emotion that's well deserved and earned over the years of disappointing Hall of Fame balloting results. This was the late Allen's seventh time appearing on a Veterans Committee ballot — he missed out by a single vote in 2014 and 2021. He also spent 14 years on the regular Baseball Writer's Association of America (BBWAA) ballot, from 1983 to 1997 but never got above 18.2 percent of the votes.
Even Allen's family had given up hope, according to Lauber.
“I kind of lost some faith because, with the numbers that are being put up today, it would sort of lower his numbers,” Allen Jr. said on Sunday night, per Lauber. “You’ll hear things like, ‘So-and-so has surpassed Dick Allen with 352 home runs,’ and it just drops him down. “So, yeah, I kind of thought that eventually he’d be forgotten.”
Over a 15-season MLB career from 1963-77, Allen amassed 58.7 bWAR, with 1,848 hits, 351 home runs and 1,119 RBI in 1,749 games. He finished with a .292/.378/.534 slash line and a .912 OPS (156 OPS+). The seven-time All-Star (thrice as a Phillie) also took home the 1972 AL MVP Award while playing with the Chicago White Sox.
“It's like waiting on that third out," Allen Jr. said of waiting for the announcement, per MLB.com's Bill Ladson. "Just wait, just waiting. It's a load off my mind and off my back. (My father) … never talked about it. He always felt other people were more deserving. … I was like, ‘No, your numbers are just (as) good. You should be there. You should be there. He’d say, ‘I'm all right, I'm all right.’ I don't know how it happened, so that's good. I told him that he’d deserve it.”
In 1,070 games in a Phillies uniform, Allen racked up 1,143 hits, 204 home runs and 655 RBI with a .290/.371/.530 slash line.