Mural Arts Philadelphia, the City of Philadelphia, and the Phillies organization collaborated to create a new mural in South Philadelphia on Thursday, Dec. 7, in honor of the late great Dick Allen of the Philadelphia Phillies.
The mural, which is anticipated to be finished in the spring of 2024, is situated at 2221 S. Broad Street, just a few city blocks from the site of The Vet.
An appropriate homage to a Phillies legend
It is impossible to exaggerate Dick Allen’s significance to the Phillies organization and the City of Philadelphia. Many people believe that Allen, who spent nine years with the Phillies over two stints (1963–1969 and 1975–1976), was the team’s first black superstar. Despite facing racial discrimination throughout his career in the 1960s, he won the 1964 Rookie of the Year Award and was named an All-Star three times in three different seasons (1965, 1966, and 1967).
The Phillies have already honored Allen. He was inducted into the team’s Wall of Fame by the organization in 1994. For a player who played with red pinstripes and hit.290 with 204 home runs and 655 RBI, it’s a well-deserved honor.
The Phillies once again paid tribute to Allen in 2020 by retiring his number 15, an action that was long overdue and will continue to uphold Allen’s reputation as a Philadelphia sports legend for many years to come. The retirement of his number is incredibly appropriate, as Allen passed away on December 7, 2020. The mural unveiled on Thursday is the most recent remembrance of him, three years after his death.
But shouldn’t there be one more?
Is Dick Allen destined for the Hall of Fame?
Dick Allen had a more than respectable stat line at the end of his 15-year Major League career. A slugger in his prime, Allen had a career batting average of.292, 351 home runs, 1,119 RBI, and 58.7 WAR. In addition to being a seven-time All-Star while playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago White Sox, Allen was a one-time MVP with the team in 1972.
How come Dick Allen isn’t in Cooperstown?
Fans of the Phillies get frustrated by that question. Having been passed over for enshrinement by baseball writers during his first run, Dick Allen has been nominated twice more: in 2014 for the Veterans Committee and again in 2021 for the Golden Eras panel. He was one vote short twice. It remains conceivable that Allen will obtain the required 12 votes when the Golden Era committee reconvenes in 2025. Will voters make the correct choice this time?
In baseball, beat writers and other Hall of Fame voters place a great deal of weight on specific career statistics. The Cooperstown cases of players such as Tony Perez and Jim Rice are comparable to Dick Allen’s. Allen, Rice, and Perez all shared large offensive peaks but lacked the playing time to establish themselves as accumulators.
A well-known example of an accumulator is Harold Baines. While Baines was unquestionably a fantastic player, his 22-year career in the league will help him reach career milestones in a few statistical areas. When Miguel Cabrera steps onto the ballot in seven years, he will be the next bright example of stat sheet padding. Cabrera recently retired.
That’s the kind of bias Allen encounters from voters who are still undecided, even though the officially named Veterans Committee subsequently made the right decision with Rice and Perez. Allen will have a better chance in 2025 if voters can focus more on an extended period of offensive dominance and take into account that not all outstanding ball players are destined to have careers as long as some legendary accumulators like Harold Baines.
Let’s hope that Dick Allen’s plaque appears on the Cooperstown wall soon.