Richard A. Allen

Obituary For Richard A. Allen

RICHARD ANTHONY (DICK) ALLEN, was born to Coy Allen & Era Rhodes Craine Allen on March 8, 1942 in the rural farm and mining community of Crescentdale, PA. He was raised by his mother along with his eight siblings in the Baptist tradition at the First Baptist Missionary Church in Chewton, Pennsylvania. As a child, Dick spent hours batting stones and announcing every hitter in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ lineup until he got to his favorite player, Jackie Robinson. “I was always paying for new windowpanes all over the neighborhood,” his mother would say. “The neighbors wouldn’t even bother to ask the kids who was responsible. They would just come and tell me it was Dickie again. I knew they were right, too, because there were no baseball fields in all of Chewton or Wampum that could hold a stone if Dickie hit it good,” his mother would reflect. In looking back upon his childhood, “My mom did a swell job of raising us,” remarked Dick. Dick was an outstanding athlete at Wampum High School, where he was a starting guard on the basketball team, achieving national prominence in the 1950s. In 1960, the basketball team, captained by Dick, won the Division B State Championship. Dick earned All-American honors at the time. Dick put baseball ahead of basketball because baseball paid better, and the Allen children wanted to buy a new home for their mother. Dick’s prowess on the diamond caught the attention of baseball scouts from the Philadelphia Phillies. Therefore, he was signed to the Phillies at age 15; but law prohibited him from joining the Major Leagues until his high school class graduation. Upon signing, the first thing Dick did was buy his mother that new house. Dick, along with his brother Hank, began his professional career at Elmira in the New York-Pennsylvania League in 1960. By 1963, the Phillies’ Triple-A farm club relocated from Buffalo to Little Rock, Arkansas. Without telling anyone, the Phillies decided to integrate the team. At the time, the city of Little Rock found itself in the middle of the civil-rights movement after the governor refused to integrate Central High School. For Dick, who grew up in racially tolerant Wampum, Little Rock was a startling experience. As the first black to play there, he experienced racial segregation and pressure daily. “I didn’t know anything about the racial issue in Arkansas and didn’t really care. Maybe if the Phillies had called me in, man to man, like the Dodgers had done with Jackie Robinson, at least I would have been prepared. Instead, I was on my own.” This early experience would foreshadow Dick’s professional playing career. Dick was called up to the Phillies and made his major-league debut on September 3, 1963, in Milwaukee. He wore uniform number 32, instead of what would become his familiar number 15. He would immediately become a superstar with the Phillies. Dick spent nine of his 15 major league seasons (1963-77) with the Phillies and won National League Rookie of the Year in 1964. During his time with the club, he batted .290 with 204 doubles, 204 home runs, 655 RBI, a .371 on-base percentage and a .530 slugging percentage (.902 OPS) in 1,070 games. His slugging percentage is second-best in Phillies history, and he ranks 10th in home runs. Dick led his league in OPS four times in his career, including twice with the Phillies in 1966 (1.027) and 1967 (.970).

Dick loved horses and spent hours riding his horse, Old Blaze, in nearby Fairmount Park while with the Phillies. Despite his powerful physique, Dick dreamt of being a jockey: “I’m one of those guys who would like to weigh about 115 pounds for a couple of hours in the afternoon and then go back to my own size about 5 o’clock.” He would maintain a fondness for horses for the remainder of his life. Another one of Dick’s passions was music, especially singing. In 1968, he formed the Ebonistics, a doo-wop group, and recorded the song “Echoes of November,” which became an R&B hit in the Philadelphia area. In January 1969, Dick and the Ebonistics performed the song during halftime of a Philadelphia 76ers game at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.

Dick was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1970 and later to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1971, Dick joined the Chicago White Sox and became a major force with resuscitating a fledgling ballclub. He carried the White Sox on his broad shoulders into pennant contention in 1972. He was far and away the most talented player on the team. Attendance grew during his playing time, and new life and respect had returned to the Sox franchise.

Dick was the most dominant player in the American League – if not in all of baseball – in 1972. He led the league with 37 home runs and 113 RBIs and was the starting first baseman on the AL All-Star team. The season was full of memorable moments, but none as dramatic as Sunday, June 4. The White Sox hosted the New York Yankees in a doubleheader at Comiskey Park before a crowd of 51, 904. In game two, Dick came off the bench to pinch-hit in the bottom of the ninth inning with two runners on and the White Sox trailing 4-2. He blasted a long three-run homer off Sparky Lyle to give Chicago a dramatic 5-4 win and a sweep of the twin bill. On July 31, he would hit two inside-the-park home runs in a game against the Minnesota Twins. He would earn American League Most Valuable Player status in 1972.

Dick twice led the American League in home runs, including the 1972 season when he was named the Most Valuable Player after hitting .308 with 37 home runs, 113 RBI, 99 walks, a .420 on-base percentage and a 1.023 OPS. His only postseason appearance came in 1976, when he made three starts for the Phillies in the National League Championship Series.

Dick would rejoin his beloved Phillies in 1975 and round out his uniformed baseball career with the Oakland A’s in 1977. He finished his career at the age of 35 with a .292 average, 351 home runs, and 1,119 RBIs. Dick and his brothers Hank and Ron were unique in America’s favorite pastime. They were one of the few three brothers to have played ball consecutively in the majors.

Dick worked in the 1980s rebuilding his life and would later co-author an autobiography. He worked briefly with the Texas Rangers as a coach. He also appeared at baseball card shows across the United States with his beloved wife Willa, played in several Cracker Jack Old-Timer’s games throughout the major leagues and supported numerous charities.

Throughout his career, Dick was a seven-time All-Star (1965-67; 1970; 1972-74). He played nearly every position on the field during his career but is widely known as a first and third baseman. Dick became one of the all-time greats in Phillies history after being signed by the team in 1960 to his first professional contract. He joined the Phillies front office in 1994 as a fan representative and later, a club ambassador.

The Phillies would bestow the highest honor a club can confer upon a former player by retiring Dick’s No. 15 in a ceremony this past September 3, 2020, the 57th anniversary of Dick’s major league debut with the Phillies.

During his life, he would marry twice, Barbara Moore (1961-1981) and Willa King (1987-present). Dick joined the ancestors on Monday, December 7, 2020 after a courageous battle with cancer. He is preceded in death by his parents Coy Allen and Era Rhodes Craine Allen; his daughter, Terri; his siblings, Coy Allan (JoeAnn), Dorothy Etta Daniels (David), Helen Elizabeth Craine, Iona Bernard (Everett), Sarah Lee Eady (William), and Caesar W. Craine (Ruby). Dick leaves behind his wife, Willa; two sons, Richard (Doobie) Jr. and Eron (Button) Dekov; one grandson, Richard (Tre) III; two brothers, Harold and Ronald (Marthella); and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and fellow teammates.

Excepts for this synopsis are attributed to Rich D’Ambrosio