Dick Allen

Former White Sox first baseman Dick Allen died yesterday at the age of 78. Despite playing just three seasons, 1972-74, on the South Side, Allen seems to have left an oversized impression among Sox fans. Every obituary I read mentioned a particular homerun—“chili dog” walkoff against Sparky Lyle, 21st inning walkoff against…Ed Farmer! Part of the Allen charisma is that his homers always seemed to count (looking at you, Ron Kittle). The obits also mentioned that Allen swung a 40-ounce bat. That by itself is impressive, more so when you consider he was just 5’11”. Allen was a sort of big “toy cannon,” one inch taller than Jim Wynn and even stronger. For me, memories of Dick Allen have a certain “almost” quality to them. To think about these Sox teams is to remember they included the likes of Bucky Dent; Brian Downing; Terry Forster; Goose Gossage; and George Orta. That’s a lot of young talent, folks. Throw in Allen along with Bill Melton and Carlos May, and you wonder why the Sox weren’t a team on the rise. Part of the reason, I think, is that they were doing everything on a shoestring budget. This was the dawn of free agency, and the Sox wanted no part of it. They neither signed big-ticket agents nor protected homegrown talent. All those youngster were either traded away before they walked or allowed to test free agency. Maybe things would’ve been different had Allen stayed around, but he was gone after three years. One of the stories mentioned a feud with Ron Santo, who ended his career exiled on the South Side, only that doesn’t make sense. Santo obviously was running on empty and should’ve been the one to leave, not Allen. That’s how it goes for the White Sox, flashes of promise that occasionally break up the stretches of gray mediocrity. Dick Allen was a flash unto himself.