Quiet Kindness: The Upstanding Gentleman Known As Dick Allen
Today, we review some stories and examples to remind us that while Dick Allen was a great ballplayer, he was an even better person.
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Pregame Pepper - Three Cheers To Dick Allen
Leading Off
The Upstanding Gentleman Dick Allen
By David Kropp
Dick Allen was a revered athlete. The Wampum Walloper crushed baseballs and struck fear into opposing pitchers’ hearts. Baseball Historian, Bill Jenkinson, explained how the only ballplayer who may top Allen’s pure power is The Babe. Allen’s career numbers are astounding, and justify a plaque into Cooperstown alone. MLB Network’s Brian Kenny went on-air declaring Dick as a top 20 hitter all-time:
The great Willie Mays once said, “Richie Allen was and still is a Hall of Famer as far as I am concerned.” Also, 2008 National Baseball Hall Of Fame inductee, Richard “Goose” Gossage, proclaimed Dick as “the greatest player I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Dick Allen was a great ballplayer, and those who knew him say he was even a greater man.
Mark “Frog” Carfagno met Dick Allen when he kept the grounds of old Veteran’s Stadium. Carfagno said, “He was my best friend, and he was a wonderful man.” He went on to say, “If a player had a bad game, he would privately talk to them on what to do next time. One time, I even found him consoling a player until 2:00 in the morning! He cared about people more than most know. To give you an idea of who he was, the grounds crew guys were his guys.”
To this day, with a shocked look on his face, Mark asked, “How many ball players are good friends with the grounds crew? You know, I’d go to my locker after a game towards the end of the week, and I’d see some hundred dollar bills in my locker! He always looked out for me.”
He went on to add, “Sometimes, on those hot summer days, he’d even give kids $20 bills to go get ice cream or something to cool off.”
Per a U.S. Inflation Calculator, $20 in 1976, which was Dick Allen’s last season in Philadelphia, would equal more than $104 today.
Carfagno emphatically stated, “He always cared about the little guy!” Philadelphia native Dennis Millard concurred with Carfagno’s little guy comments when he said, “He did that stuff all the time. He was just quiet about it. He went to children’s hospitals to cheer kids up, he autographed everything and gave out everything. And, I mean everything.”
Millard emotionally expounded, “In fact, he saved my life. I’m lucky enough to have met him when I was 12. Now, back then, you could go up to players, and have conversations with them. I got to know Dick, and I’d use whatever money I had to watch him play ball. We got to know one another, and he even called me ‘Okie’ because I love the Oklahoma Sooners. He even gave me some money once in a while to get myself something to eat. There was a time in my life I couldn’t eat anything, but chocolate Oreo cookies for 23 days straight. It was 23 straight days of hell. I had a nervous breakdown after losing my parents and other family, and I couldn’t take the trauma. So, I ran off to a local track to get away from everything. I slept there, and I was lost. Dick noticed I wasn’t around after a little while, and he got some guys to look for me. When he got the police involved, the police told me he said, ‘that’s my son’ when he asked about me. Once they found me, Dick took me in multiple times after that and helped get me back on my feet. I loved that man, and he loved me back.”
Voters and committee members alike decide who gets into The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum via a number of rules, including playing ability, and character. Undoubtedly, Dick Allen fits their criteria. Dick excelled on the diamond at a time of great racial divide. His statistics speak for himself, and his peers praise him as a person. Philadelphia Phillies legend Mike Schmidt said, “Dick Allen was my mentor. The baseball writers used to claim that Dick would divide the clubhouse along racial lines. That was a lie. The truth is that Dick never divided any clubhouse”.
Allen will become eligible for the Hall of Fame in December of 2024. Philadelphia’s Jackie Robinson is long overdue for baseball immortality as his extraordinary legacy awaits Cooperstown justice.
David is an IBWAA contributor and member of SABR’s Connie Mack-Dick Allen Chapter. His background includes a MA in communications from Southern New Hampshire University, SABR analytics certification, and creating baseball and other sports content. You can find him on Twitter at @kroppskorner.
I was proud to be part of this interview. Dick Allen was the most misunderstood athletes perhaps in the History of Sports. Unfortunately the stories told in this great piece by Dave were never told when Dick Allen was playing. Dick Allen is a Hall of Fame Player as well as a Hall of Fame Person. Perhaps in the future the Hall of Fame will get it right and vote Dick Allen into the Hall of Fame. With today's Modern Metrics he is a Slam Dunk Hall of Famer who should have been in the Hall of Fame 40 years ago.