Dick Allen, The Life and Times of a Baseball Immortal: An Illustrated Biography

by William C. Kashatus, Mike Schmidt (Foreword)

Baseball star Richie "Dick" Allen forced Philadelphians to address the racism that existed in their city during the 1960s. While his candid opinions challenged the white baseball establishment, Allen's tape-measure home runs earned the admiration of younger fans and fellow players, both black and white. The admiration, as well as Allen's reputation as "Baseball's Bad Boy," continued after he left Philadelphia to play for the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Chicago White Sox. Named the American League's Most Valuable player in 1972, Allen was one of the game's most misunderstood players. Based on interviews of teammates, family, friends, and Allen himself, this richly illustrated biography with original artwork by Dick Perez explores the star's personal life as well as his playing career. It is a story about one of the finest baseball players of all time, and one who deserves to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Genres: Baseball

288 pages, Hardcover

Published June 15, 2017

About the author

William C. Kashatus is an historian, educator and author. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Earlham College, he earned an MA in history at Brown University and a PhD in history education at the University of Pennsylvania. He currently teaches history at Luzerne County Community College in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Jeff Bobin · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a baseball fan you should read this book!

I grew up in the same hometown, Wampum PA, as Richie Dick Allen a superstar slugger in the 1960s and 70s. I played on the same field he did a few years after he did and can picture one of the shots told in a story in this book. Few have matched it since.

I remember watching a Pirates game on TV from Philadelphia and him hitting a home run over the signs on top of the stadium in left center field. As a huge Pirate and Willie Stargell fan I had a deep appreciation for that gargantuan long ball.

I picked this up for several reasons. First, one of my college friends from the Philly area has been promoting him for Hall of Fame. Second, as part of another research project on racism I wondered what his experience was both growing up in the same area I did and didn't remember any racial tension there and then breaking into the big leagues during a time when the racial tension was very high in many areas. Lastly, he was from my home town and I realized I had never really learned his story.

Many years ago when I was a youngster I got a call from Richie's mom, we all knew him as Richie back then, asking me to deliver the newspaper to her house. I was all excited to pick her up as a customer because I might get to meet him or talk about him with her when I delivered. I was known to get lost talking to my customers along the route. I was so disappointed when my parents told me I couldn't take her as a customer because she was at least a 1/2 mile off my route. I was already walking a mile and half to deliver less than 25 papers. I still think it would have been worth it for the stories I could have heard. 🙂

I have never met Richie but found it fascinating how many people I knew of in this story including one of my old high school teacher, Guy Demaio, his American Legion coach in Wampum.

He was controversial in an era when that was frowned on but today would be thought of as normal.
Known as the Wampum Walloper his stats alone should have earned him a spot in the HOF. This story tells of impact he had on young players throughout his career and I for one thinks he should be enshrined in Cooperstown with the other greats of the game.

[Joseph Adelizzi, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

My neighborhood friends drew me to baseball, our schoolyard version of it, in 1965 or so, but it was my Uncle Mike who took things global when I overheard him listening to a game on the radio from my aunt’s garage. He hadn’t officially married aunt Ann yet, who lived next door to us with my grandmother and aunt Fran, but he visited every weekend. That Sunday, October 6, 1968, as he did some backyard work, he was listening to game 4 of the World Series between the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals. No doubt he was puffing on his ubiquitous “stogie” as he cheered Lou Brock’s lead off home run and urged Bob Gibson to put the game away. And the 9 year old me was nearby sneaking a listen, thrilled that a real adult could get so excited over baseball. I couldn’t wait for the ‘69 season to start so I could cheer like uncle Mike.

Don’t get the wrong impression; uncle Mike was not a Cardinals fan. Nope, he was a Phillies fan cheering for the Cardinals only out of loyalty to the National League, and after he married aunt Ann he’d spend many a night out in that garage listening to Phillies games on the radio, puffing his stogie, usually sipping a glass of scotch. And within earshot I was becoming a Phillies fan too.

Since I was kind of new to the game in 1969 I’d listen to my uncle to figure out the best guys to root for. My eyes widened as he told me tales of “Richie” Allen. “Swings the heaviest bat in baseball,” he’d say. “Look at that tree trunk! See how he dips it forward like it’s bowing to the pitcher! Then he whips it through the strike zone with those wrists of his. One time I saw him hit a line shot that the shortstop jumped for. The ball just cleared his glove, kept rising, and ended up easily clearing the left-centerfield wall!”

I had my first favorite Phillie, and I was not disappointed, at least not at first. But then the boos started, and the writing in the dirt, and more boos, more writing, more boos. Now my favorite Phillie, a legitimate star, wanted out of Philadelphia, and for some confusing reason many Philadelphians wanted him out too. I was devastated.

Almost exactly one year to the day after that 1968 World Series Game 4 my first favorite Phillie was traded to those same St. Louis Cardinals. For a nanosecond I was tempted to become a Cardinals fan, but opted instead to stick with the Phillies. I wasn’t happy or proud that Curt Flood, a key piece of that trade, decided he’d rather retire than play in Philadelphia. Soon, thanks to that trade and Flood’s refusal to play in Philadelphia, I had my second favorite Phillie, Willie Montanez, but I always kept a jealous eye on Dick Allen. I didn’t feel right rooting for him while he was on a team that would play the Phillies - the Cardinals and then the Dodgers - but when he ended up in the American League I was free to root for him again. What a year he had in 1972 with the White Sox! I was ecstatic.

In 1975 Allen came back to the Phillies, and me and uncle Mike cheered for him together. Though the results weren’t exactly what we hoped for, the bowing bat was still there, and now to go along with it there were cool white shoes, an awesome afro, and some of the biggest sideburns I’d ever seen - until I grew my own mutton chops a couple of years later.

As fate would have it, my daughter ended up buying my aunt Ann’s house. One day she was cleaning out the garage and found a stack of Phillies team pictures published each year by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Each year uncle Mike would tape the photo to the garage wall, unbeknownst to me being careful to save the previous year’s photo. Going through the stack I couldn’t help but savor that 1976 Phillies team photo, with Dick Allen back where he belonged.

Many thanks to William C. Kashatus for bringing these Dick Allen and Uncle Mike memories back to me in his wonderful book Dick Allen: The Life and Times of a Baseball Immortal. And thanks to my cousin Tom for lending it to me.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book about Dick “Richie” Allen, for me was a very good book in giving what it was like for him playing in the 60’s and 70’s. During the 60’s he spent most of his time with the Phillies and though I lived on the west coast I would still hear his name and some Saturday’s see highlights of what he and other stars had done during the week. What I did not know and what the author brings out is the hatred that some of the fans, and the sports writers had for him mainly for the color of his skin and for speaking out of how the salaries of players were wrong. They were sent forth by management with no bargaining by a player and for some reason everyone thought that this was okay. When he spoke out about it he was criticized by not only the fans of Philly, but also by some of the press. There were some of the press that agreed with what he was saying but only a few. Here was a player who was outstanding, not only as a fielder but also as a hitter. He won rookie of the year in 64 and as they say he was off and running, or hitting some of the longest homeruns. Everyone talks about the collapse of the Phillies in 64 losing 12 games, but during those 12 games Allen hit .438, 5 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs and 11 RBI in the last 12 games he did his part. In 65 he hit a home run in old Connie Mack Stadium 529- foot it cleared the left center Coke sign. Yet he was still booed by the home town fans. In the book there is a fight that took place between Allen and a player named Frank Thomas who everyone said hit Allen with a bat and was the one that started the fight, yet because of the time and him being white and then getting traded people in Philadelphia looked at this as an African American caused a white person to lose his job. The author does a good job at bringing in what was going in the country at the time with riots after Martin King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy both being assassinated. You also factor in the city he played for was racially divided and then you add his own flair of showing up late and not to batting practice and you begin to see how it all came to a head. Once traded he had the same problems in every place he played. He was fun to watch and as a youngster I enjoyed collecting his cards because he sure could hit. This is a very good book about an interesting person on and off the field. I got this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up in the 1950's and 1960's and being a diehard Phillies fan, Dick Allen's skills on the baseball field captured my attention and fed my dreams of Phillies' victories, especially in the 1964 National League pennant race, so I was very interested in learning more about this true star of the game and what became of him after he was traded away by the Phillies at the end of the 1969 season. It's interesting to me that, even now, when a Phillies favorite leaves the team, I still follow his stats on the new team he moves to. But I did not do this with Dick Allen, and I think it was because the newspaper writers of that era were not kind to Allen, to put it mildly, which likely influenced my perception of Allen. I didn't not like him as a player, but despite his prowess on the field, he was not really one of my favorites, in part because I was left-handed (and therefore imitated the lefties on the team at that time - Johnny Callison, Wes Covington, Tony Gonzalez, Chris Short) and Allen was a righty. So I learned a lot about Allen from reading this book that I did not know, such as how well he played for the Cardinals in 1970, the Dodgers in 1971, and the White Sox from 1972 to 1974. I remember his return to the Phillies in 1975 and 1976, but never really knew how physically hurt he was in these last two seasons with the Phils. And I also did not even know that he attempted one more season with the Oakland A's in 1977.
The book discussed his family life, both growing up near Pittsburgh in Wampum, PA, and about his own family in Perkasie, PA. His love of horses is also given time in the book.
The final chapter makes the case for Allen's inclusion in the Hall of Fame, which I personally feel is merited based on his impressive offensive statistics.

[Hugh Atkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always liked Dick Allen. In my youth, I could not understand why the fans in Philadelphia booed their best player. This book by Kashatus explores how the press represented Allen as a trouble maker and how that label stuck with him through out his career. I was already familiar with most of the material in this book; the biographical information on his early life was new to me. This is a pretty good baseball book, especially if you are unfamiliar with Allen’s career. The book has a couple of obvious mistakes that should have been caught, but they don’t really detract from what the author was trying to accomplish. Kashatus is an unapologetic fan of Allen to the point of always giving Allen the benefit of the doubt about most every controversial aspect of his career. Kashatus wraps up by trying to make the case that Dick Allen unquestionably belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. There is no doubt Allen had Hall-of-Fame talent, but his career statistics leave him short. The woods all full of players who had great spans during their careers, and if not for injuries, perhaps would have finished among the immortals in hits, home runs, and runs batted in. But the problem is, they didn’t. Allen also walked away from his team before the end of the 1974 season. The book makes it seem as if a couple of times in his career, Allen decided his team was going nowhere in the standings, so why bother playing the remainder of the season. That alone disqualifies him from the Hall.

[Bill Scottoline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading more about a childhood idle of mine. This book can be appreciated by everyone since it tells a life story all may be able to identify with. However, the reader who will appreciate this work the most is one who loves baseball and has at least some familiarity with the many many metrics used to measure player performance. The author also makes a compelling case for the enshrinement of Dick Allen into Cooperstown. Sadly, that has not happened to date.

[Tim Schram · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a Dick Allen fan, and this book does a good job giving the facts of his life and career. But it too often felt like just that: the author reciting the facts of his life and career. Could have used some more creativity. Easy read, good info on the biggest current HOF snub.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of a great player. Often misunderstood, Dick Allen hasn't gotten the respect he's deserved.

[Michael Cawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes a strong clear case that Dick Allen belongs in the MLB Hall of Fame.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baseball has had many players through the years whose talent would be overshadowed by some type of controversy, be it bad press, a bad personality or maybe just bad luck. One of these players was Dick Allen, who played primarily with the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox between 1964 and 1976, with stops in Los Angeles (Dodgers) and St. Louis along the way. His story and career is captured in this biography by long time Philadelphia writer William C. Kashatus.

The book follows the tried-and-true format for a sports biography by writing about Allen’s childhood in which his father was gone for long periods of time but when he was around, the moments were special for Dick. His mother ran a strict house and that helped Dick concentrate on baseball. When he signed with the Phillies (who subsequently called him “Richie” on rosters and press releases) he had his first exposure to racism and discrimination when he played in Little Rock, Arkansas. That brought a profound awareness to him on the civil rights movement and his views were note always popular with the media or the fans in Philadelphia, a city that was having its own problems with race riots in 1964.

Throughout the book, Allen is portrayed in a sympathetic light, explaining that many of the accusations made through the press are countered by either teammates, his manager or other personnel associated with the teams. This was the case not only with the Phillies but also with the Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox, the other teams for whom Allen played in his career. He enjoyed the best success in Chicago where twice he led the American League in home runs and was the league’s Most Valuable Player in 1972. He then went back to the Phillies after expressing his desire to “retire” after the 1974 season.

After writing about Allen’s post-baseball life, Kashatus devotes the last chapter to making a pitch for Allen to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He uses today’s advanced statistics to make a favorable case for Allen that from strictly numbers, looks favorable when compared to legendary players who are already enshrined such as Harmon Killebrew. It is the author’s belief that Allen has been kept out because of the media’s negative feelings toward him, both in the past and present. This is a section that is one that is best left for the readers to make that judgement for themselves.

This is the second book on two years written about Allen and this one shows the player in a very favorable light. If a reader was a fan of Dick Allen during his career, then this will one to add to his or her library.

I wish to thank Schiffer Publishing for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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