Golden Era HoF Ballot Dick Allen 1967 Topps #450

The most prominent Phillies player on the Golden Era Ballot is Dick Allen. Today I would like to take a look at his chances of getting selected.

1967 Topps #450 Richie Allen
1967 Topps #450 Dick Allen

Rather than going into detail about Dick Allen's on the field credentials or his complex off the field issues I would like to dissect his chances by analyzing the Golden Era Committee.

The GEC consists of 16 members, 12 Yes Votes (75%) gets you into the Hall

There are seven Hall of Fame Players on the committee
Jim Bunning - YES: Curmudgeon but was a former teammate
Rod Carew - YES
Fergie Jenkins - YES: Former Teammate
Al Kaline - YES
Joe Morgan - no: According to his ESPN B-cast nobody was as good as Joe
Ozze Smith - YES
Don Sutton - no: Allen wasn't particulary successful vs Sutton BA=.257 1 HR in 41 AB

Five Executives
Pat Gillick - YES: Gillick back with Phillies, Undertands what it would mean to Organization
Jim Frey - no: I was too lazy to figure out which Jim Frey this was so penciled him as a no
David Glass - no: Royals Owner is former CEO of Walmart. The man is into cost-cutting = minimalist

Roland Hemond - YES: As GM of  White Sox Hemond acquired Dick Allen
Bob Watson - YES: former player repping exec branch.

Four Media Members
Steve Hirdt - YES: Stats Guy - he will surely see Dick Allen's numbers
Dick Kaegel - YES: Covers Royals, probably in good mood.
Phil Pepe - no: in 2008 Pepe didn't see Andre Dawson as HoF and the Hawk has similar credentials to Dick Allen
Tracy Ringolsby - no: President of the BBWAA in 1986 when Allen appeared on less than 10% of ballot 

The Verdict
YES = 10 votes, No = 6 Votes. Dick Allen gets passed over. Pains me to say it but I am thinking my very unscientific survey will end up being pretty close to the actual results.

1967 Topps #450
1967 is the first time that Dick Allen has his position listed as an outfielder - well partially anyway. Perhaps if Allen had spent his entire career at third base he would garner more serious consideration for the Hall. I think some voters view him as more of a first baseman or outfielder even if his most prolific years were at third.

Sources & Links
2015 HoF Ballot Index
Dick Allen Player Collection Index 
Philadelphia Inquirer
Baseball-ref
SABR
Royals Review
Yes Network
Hall of Fame

Dick Allen Hall of Fame Custom Cards

I have just discovered the website Dick Allen Hall of Fame. They have recently put together a nice retrospective of Dick Allen's Topps cards and created updated versions for all the years of his active career.


1964 Topps Dick Allen Custom by Dick Allen Hall of Fame

This is a great card, as I have always sort of had an aversion to the shared rookie cards that many player have gotten. If you want to see the original 1964 Allen Topps card Click here.

Dick Allen Hall of Fame has created customs for most years through 1977. The cards are well done and fun to check out and some of them have corrected some....laziness....on Topps part.

My favorites include:

1970 and 1972 in which Topps resorted to airbrushing the same photo.
1976 which has Phungo Favorite Garry Maddox in the shot.
1977 which is basically a Card that Never Was as Topps never produced a card dedicated to Allen's short time with the Oakland Athletics.

Sources and Links
Dick Allen Player Collection Index