Dick Allen is one of nine former major league players and one former executive eligible for Hall of Fame consideration - through the Veteran's Committee selection process. The committee has the authority to elect as many as five of the following (along with Allen): Ken Boyer, Luis Tiant, Jim Kaat, Maury Wills, Billy Pierce, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva, Gil Hodges and Bob Howsam (former general manager of both the Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds).
Dick Allen's Cooperstown Credentials:
His career spanned 15 seasons and two name changes. As "Richie", he was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1964. By the time he convinced most people he preferred to be called "Dick" (1972), he had become the American League's Most Valuable Player - and its most pre-Reggie Jackson-acclaimed slugger.
One thing is certain: Richie-call me-Dick Allen could hit a baseball very hard. So hard, in fact, it was almost beyond belief. And he did it with a piece of lumber so big and heavy it looked more like a telephone pole than bat.
Swinging that big stick, Allen had the 19th highest OPS+ in MLB history: 156. The eighteen players in front of him are either in the Hall of Fame or named Bonds or Pujols. The three players immediately behind him with an OPS+ of 155 are named Aaron, DiMaggio, and Mays. That's pretty impressive company.
However, the door to Cooperstown never opened for Dick Allen, who retired after the 1977 season with 351 home runs to his credit. Although he twice led the American League in home runs, Allen's swing usually produced vicious line drives that simply weren't hit high enough to clear the fences. Allen's specialty was denting the fences, which he did with eye-popping consistency during his career.
Still, this great slugger from Wampum, PA is not in the Hall of Fame. Why not? There are a few mitigating factors which may be working against him. In this recently enlightened age of saber-metrics, the most obvious reason past voters ignored his accomplishments: Nobody knew what OPS+ was thirty years ago, when Dick Allen's name first appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot. Home runs mattered most - 500 was the magic number, and he didn't extend his career long enough to reach that plateau.
Hall of Fame voters have typically been enamored with the .300 batting average. Case in point: George Kell, who averaged .306 during his well-traveled (five different teams) Hall of Fame career, which featured 78 home runs in 15 nondescript American League seasons during the '40s and '50s. Kell was a personable fellow - well-liked by just about everyone he knew, including the members of the Hall of Fame Veteran's Committee, who decided he was ready for Cooperstown membership in 1983.
Dick Allen "only" hit .292. Not good enough, according to the voters, who also seemed to ignore his .378 OBP and his .534 SLG - both Hall of Fame caliber numbers. How could this happen?
Unfortunately for Dick Allen, he was not universally admired by the "baseball establishment" - owners, front office executives, along with the media - were generally not enamored by the free-spirited antics of this enigmatic superstar. Since Allen didn't fit the conventional mold of what was considered "acceptable behavior" for superstar ballplayers - he liked to play the horses and hit the nightclub scene from time to time - he wasn't so well-liked (in contrast to the less-skilled but personable Hall of Famer George Kell).
Cooperstown shouldn't be a popularity contest - but let's face it - for players considered to have "borderline" qualifications, they need to have a lot more friends than enemies with the voters who make the decisions on who gets in and who doesn't. The truth of the matter is, Dick Allen's Hall of Fame credentials aren't "borderline". They're exemplary.
It's time to open the door to Cooperstown and let Dick Allen in where he belongs. Hopefully, the Veteran's Committee will get it right this time around.
The ballots will be cast by December 8.
Larry Underwood is a baseball historian - die-hard St Louis Cardinals fan - author: St Louis Cardinals IQ - The Ultimate Test of True Fandom - Volumes 1 & 2
http://www.amazon.com/St-Louis-Cardinals-IQ-Ultimate/dp/0983792259/ref=cm_pdp_books_itm_title_5
Showing posts with label cooperstown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cooperstown. Show all posts
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
The Hall of Fame Case for Ted Simmons
I have to believe Ted Simmons' long, overdue inclusion into baseball's Hall of Fame will finally happen, as the Veteran's Committee will be reviewing his qualifications - which are decidedly Hall of Fame caliber - in time for the upcoming January selection process.
* His career began as a full-time catcher for the Cardinals in 1970, which happened to coincide with a prolonged period of mediocrity the team would endure throughout his tenure in St Louis, which came to an end ten years later, when he was traded to Milwaukee. Being stuck on a mediocre team wasn't his fault. In fact, without Ted Simmons in the lineup, the Cardinals would have been something far less than mediocre through the 1980 season - in other words, they would have really sucked.
* His career roughly coincided with the career of Johnny Bench, who was arguably, the greatest catcher in MLB history. Being second banana to the Great Bench unfairly diminished his performance, which was in fact, Hall of Fame caliber.
* Playing half his games for most of his career in cavernous Busch Stadium turned countless home runs into long outs. Few players in MLB history ever smashed baseballs with the degree of ferocity Simmons did in 21 big league seasons, so his relatively modest home run total of 248 is misleading.
The hard-hitting (switch-hitting) Simmons amassed 2472 hits (probably none of the "infield variety") - more than Bench, Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, or Jorge Posada, for that matter. His lifetime .285 BA also leads that quartet, and his 1389 RBI total is close to the top of that heap, trailing only Bench by a mere seven runs batted in.
What about OPS+? This is perhaps the most accurate saber-metric measurement of a player's offensive production, taking into consideration "on base percentage" and "slugging percentage", while factoring in the "degree of difficulty" associated with the playing venue. As stated, old Busch Stadium was a pitcher's haven - not at all condusive to the long ball. Here's how Simmons stacked up against the three Hall of Famers and the one potential Hall of Famer:
Bench - 126
Posada - 121
Simmons - 117
Fisk - 117
Carter - 115
Of the three catchers already enshrined in Cooperstown, Bench played in four different World Series, winning twice; Carter and Fisk both played in one Fall Classic (both were very "classic" Fall Classics), as did Ted Simmons - ironically, as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, playing against his old team - and losing in seven games - in 1982. Carter was on the winning side playing for the Mets in 1986, and we all know Fisk's Red Sox fell to Bench's Reds in 1975, although Carlton's memorable Game Six walk-off home run made him an instant legend in Bean Town.
If World Series success affects Hall of Fame voting, five-time winner Jorge Posada may find himself in Cooperstown some day; hopefully, by that time, Cooperstown will have already admitted the greatest Cardinal catcher in history - Ted Lyle Simmons.
Just ask Peter Gammons; he belongs.
Fascinated with St Louis Cardinals history? Test your Redbird IQ!
http://www.amazon.com/St-Louis-Cardinals-IQ-Ultimate/dp/0983792259/ref=cm_pdp_books_itm_title_5
* His career began as a full-time catcher for the Cardinals in 1970, which happened to coincide with a prolonged period of mediocrity the team would endure throughout his tenure in St Louis, which came to an end ten years later, when he was traded to Milwaukee. Being stuck on a mediocre team wasn't his fault. In fact, without Ted Simmons in the lineup, the Cardinals would have been something far less than mediocre through the 1980 season - in other words, they would have really sucked.
* His career roughly coincided with the career of Johnny Bench, who was arguably, the greatest catcher in MLB history. Being second banana to the Great Bench unfairly diminished his performance, which was in fact, Hall of Fame caliber.
* Playing half his games for most of his career in cavernous Busch Stadium turned countless home runs into long outs. Few players in MLB history ever smashed baseballs with the degree of ferocity Simmons did in 21 big league seasons, so his relatively modest home run total of 248 is misleading.
The hard-hitting (switch-hitting) Simmons amassed 2472 hits (probably none of the "infield variety") - more than Bench, Carlton Fisk, Gary Carter, or Jorge Posada, for that matter. His lifetime .285 BA also leads that quartet, and his 1389 RBI total is close to the top of that heap, trailing only Bench by a mere seven runs batted in.
What about OPS+? This is perhaps the most accurate saber-metric measurement of a player's offensive production, taking into consideration "on base percentage" and "slugging percentage", while factoring in the "degree of difficulty" associated with the playing venue. As stated, old Busch Stadium was a pitcher's haven - not at all condusive to the long ball. Here's how Simmons stacked up against the three Hall of Famers and the one potential Hall of Famer:
Bench - 126
Posada - 121
Simmons - 117
Fisk - 117
Carter - 115
Of the three catchers already enshrined in Cooperstown, Bench played in four different World Series, winning twice; Carter and Fisk both played in one Fall Classic (both were very "classic" Fall Classics), as did Ted Simmons - ironically, as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, playing against his old team - and losing in seven games - in 1982. Carter was on the winning side playing for the Mets in 1986, and we all know Fisk's Red Sox fell to Bench's Reds in 1975, although Carlton's memorable Game Six walk-off home run made him an instant legend in Bean Town.
If World Series success affects Hall of Fame voting, five-time winner Jorge Posada may find himself in Cooperstown some day; hopefully, by that time, Cooperstown will have already admitted the greatest Cardinal catcher in history - Ted Lyle Simmons.
Just ask Peter Gammons; he belongs.
Fascinated with St Louis Cardinals history? Test your Redbird IQ!
http://www.amazon.com/St-Louis-Cardinals-IQ-Ultimate/dp/0983792259/ref=cm_pdp_books_itm_title_5
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