When you think of Dick Allen one image comes to mind. Allen standing in the White Sox dugout while sporting a red pinstriped jersey as he casually juggles three baseballs with a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth.
The now iconic shot became the cover of Sports Illustrated’s 1972 June issue, months before Allen was named league MVP. He was later reprimanded for getting caught by the media smoking in the dugout, but Allen didn’t care. It was a perfect representation of him. Cool, confident, and marching to the beat of his drum. As the cover suggested, he was juggling his image.
Allen wasn’t even supposed to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The photographer who was sent to Chicago on that fateful June afternoon was tasked with getting an image for a short column. But the image he captured was too good to be buried inside a magazine. Despite not even having a feature story about Allen in the issue, Sports Illustrated still elected to put him on the cover.
The cover served as a bit of a metaphor. Before coming to Chicago, Allen had spent the previous three seasons bouncing around three different teams. After winning Rookie of the Year in 1964 and three consecutive All-Star appearances with the Phillies from 1965-67, he was traded to the Cardinals in 1969. Despite hitting 34 home runs and 101 RBIs en route to his fourth All-Star season, the Cardinals traded him to the Dodgers at the end of the ‘69 season. His stay in LA was also short-lived. On December 2, 1971, the Dodgers traded Allen to the White Sox for infielder Steve Huntz and left-hander Tommy John.
In Chicago, he found his stride. By 1972 he was playing the best baseball of his career, leading the league in WAR (8.6), home runs (34), RBIs (113), walks (99), on-base percentage (.420), slugging percentage (.603) and OPS (1.023). It earned him the title of league MVP making Allen one of just five White Sox players to ever earn that distinction. He also helped the South Siders have back-to-back American League home run kings after Bill Melton hit 33 in 1971.
Allen would only go on to play three seasons with the South Siders. But during that stretch, he was named to three All-Star teams, batted over .300 each season, and led the AL in home runs twice. For a moment, the White Sox were fun and relevant once again despite their mediocre record. There are very few players who can make that big of an impact on an organization in that short amount of time. While he will likely go into Cooperstown as a Philly, you cannot tell the story of his career without the White Sox.
It would also be hard to tell the story of baseball without Allen. He was the premier power hitter of his generation. In 15 seasons he amassed 351 homers, with six seasons of 30 or more homers and a batting average over .300. Between 1964 and 1974 only Hank Aaron had a higher slugging percentage and OPS of every player with at least 3,000 plate appearances. Along the way, he had to overcome racism from the stands. Objects and slurs were regularly thrown at him. Allen once had to wear a helmet while playing first base to protect himself.
If it affected him, you couldn’t tell by watching him play. In 15 seasons he owned a career slash line of .292/.378/.534 with a 58.7 WAR. Family members say that Allen cared more for talking about horseracing than baseball in his post-playing career. But that didn’t take away from the disappointment of having to watch him wait 14 years while his name was on the Hall of Fame ballot only to fall one vote short on two separate occasions.
Allen Died on December 7, 2020. Nearly four years after his death his family watched on as Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch announced that Allen had received 13 of the 12 votes necessary from the Classic Baseball Era Committee to be elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Allen is finally getting the national recognition he deserves, without having to juggle any baseballs.
Dick Allen was a bright spot in Chicago Sports history. He was cool and he was a man who also raised horses. The guy sure could smack the ball.
What an exciting player, he would just crush the ball.