Phillies Legend Dick Allen Elected to Hall of Fame

Dick Allen was finally elected on December 8 to the MLB Hall of Fame by the Classic Era Committee. He will be inducted with this year’s class on July 27, 2025. Maybe you know about Allen, maybe he’s before your time. But pull up a chair, light a cigar and spend a few minutes to learn – or remember.

Richard Anthony Allen was born in 1942 in Wampum, Pennsylvania, a small town about 20 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. He was an All-State high school basketball player, leading his team to a state title. Although offered college basketball scholarships, Allen chose baseball, the game he loved. He signed with the Philadelphia Phillies and broke onto the scene winning Rookie of the Year in 1964 – the year the Phils blew a 6.5 game division leads in the final 12 games of the season – a story for another time. Allen’s legend grew quickly, mostly because of his monster home-runs, sometimes clearing the left-center field roof of Connie Mack stadium in Philly. Swinging a 40 ounce bat, Allen terrorized pitchers in a career that lasted until 1977.

Hall of Famers are players that dominated an era. In the years from 1964-1974 he was electric – simply one of the best players in baseball. His OPS (on-base percentage + slugging) – a stat that measures getting on base and hitting for power – was .940. In that period only one player in baseball had a higher OPS – Hank Aaron. Allen’s career slugging percentage was .534 – the active player closest to that average is a guy named Juan Soto – whose slugging average is .532. Soto is considered one of the best in the game today – he just signed a monster $700 million+ contract. To show how much things have changed, Allen held out in 1967 for a $100,000 contract and settled for $80,000.

In his career Allen hit .292 with 320 doubles, 79 triples, 351 HR, 1119 RBI, 1099 Runs and 133 SB in 1749 games. In addition to his Rookie of the Year, Allen was a 7-time All Star, and was named AL MVP with the White Sox in 1972. On the day the Phillies retired Allen’s #15 in 2020, Allen’s teammate Mike Schmidt said “As long as there’s baseball in Philadelphia, you’ll be one of its legends.” And so he is.

Allen died in 2020, living long enough to see his number retired but not his election to the Hall. His story is a great one and includes many of the same chapters as Philly history and the history of the game. The Wampum Walloper went from a tiny town in Pennsylvania to Cooperstown, forever linked to the greatest who ever played.