Dick Allen, American baseball player and tenor
Richard Anthony Allen (March 8, 1942 – December 7, 2020) was an American professional baseball player. During his fifteen-year-long Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played first baseman, third baseman, and outfielder, most notably for the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox, and was one of baseball's top sluggers of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Allen was named an All-Star seven times. He began his career as a Phillie by being selected 1964 National League (NL) Rookie of the Year and in 1972 was the American League (AL) Most Valuable Player with the Chicago White Sox. He led the AL in home runs twice; the NL in slugging percentage once and the AL twice; and each major league in on-base percentage once apiece. Allen's career .534 slugging percentage was among his era's highest in an age of comparatively modest offensive production.
Allen's brothers played baseball as well. His older brother, Hank, was an outfielder for three AL teams; his younger brother, Ron, briefly played first base for the 1972 St. Louis Cardinals.
Allen has been considered for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame, most notably in December 2014 and December 2021, for the induction classes of 2015 and 2022, respectively. He fell one vote short of election each time, receiving 11 votes from 16-member committees, when 75% (12 votes) is the threshold for election.
Allen was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2004. The Philadelphia Phillies retired Allen's uniform number 15 on September 3, 2020.
1942Mar, 8
Dick Allen
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Events on 1942
- 25Jan
Thailand
World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom. - 8Mar
Myanmar
World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces captured Rangoon, Burma from British. - 10Jul
Soviet Union
Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the Soviet Union are established. - 13Aug
Manhattan Project
Major General Eugene Reybold of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizes the construction of facilities that would house the "Development of Substitute Materials" project, better known as the Manhattan Project. - 25Sep
Holocaust
World War II: Swiss Police instruction dictates that "Under current practice ... refugees on the grounds of race alone are not political refugees", effectively denying entry to Jews trying to flee occupied Europe during the Holocaust.