WHY Dick Allen IS A HALL OF FAMER !!

Since the late former Chicago Cub and White Sox star Ron Santo, who was recently inducted into Baseball’s Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown, the question arises; how come Dick Allen isn’t in ? Well let’s compare the numbers and you will notice that Dick Allen should be a Hall of Famer if Ron Santo is. Santo was a 9 time All Star, who had a .277 career batting average, 342 Home Runs and an OPS+ { adjusted on base plus slugging % } of 125. Santo received No Post Season Awards ! Dick Allen was a 7 time All Star, had career batting average of .292 with 351 Home Runs and an OPS+ of 156. Allen also was the 1964 National League Rookie of the Year and the 1972 American League Most Valuable Player. Santo also had 1,811 more At Bats than Dick Allen. Dick Allen was credited with saving the White Sox franchise from relocating. When Allen arrived in Chicago attendance almost doubled. The Santo comparison clearly shows that Allen had better numbers than Santo. But this was just a one on one comparison. Now lets move on to the more complex statistics that voters use as a gauge for a players entrance into the Hall Of Fame. This statistic was brought up by Bill James, the baseball stat guru who doesn’t believe Dick Allen is a Hall of Famer because of his off the field issues, but James admitted with this statistic that Allen probably should be in the Hall of Fame. James compares two different era’s, the first from 1975 to 1984. That is a 10 year playing span. That era was also considered the live ball era. To be included on this list a player must have played at least 1,000 games. The leading OPS+ player during that time frame was Mike Schmidt with a 155 OPS+. Second on the list was George Brett with 145, followed by Eddie Murray 143 and Dave Winfield with 140. Others on the list include Reggie Jackson with 135 and Jim Rice at 134. Now James takes us 10 years back. He starts from 1964 through 1973 and also uses the same criteria as the other era. The 64-73 time frame was considered a dead ball era. The Pitchers mound was 15 inches high to give the pitcher a big advantage over the hitter. Finally in 1969 or ’70 the mound was lowered to 10 inches. Here’s where Mr. Allen hits his longest home run. His OPS+ of 165 led ALL OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ! James states that Allen was ahead of 17 Hall of Famers. Here are a few and their numbers. Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey and Frank Robinson all numbered at 161. Next in line was Harmon Killebrew and Willie Stargell both with 152. At 151 was Roberto Clemente’, Willie Mays-148, Carl Yastrzemski-145, Billy Williams 139 and Ron Santo at 136. So as you can see, Allen had a higher number than Mike Schmidt 165 vs. 155, in an era where pitching dominated.
I didn’t even get into the other racial issues that Allen had to go through, we will save that for another day. There are many other stats out there, but the fact that Bill James would reveal such a stat in support of Dick Allen proves to me that Richard Anthony “Dick” Allen is a True Hall of Famer.