by Craig R. Wrightas originally published by SABR magazine.
Courtesy of Expressfan.com
Editor's Note: A quarter-century after he retired, Dick (nee Richie) Allen remains one of baseball's greatest enigmas. One of his biggest critics has been sabermatician Bill James, much of it based on his conjecture of Dick's role in hurting the performance of his teammates and thus his team's won-loss record.
Does James' theory hold up? What are the viewpoints of Allen held by the very people James claims were hurt by Allen? That's what baseball scout and author Craig Wright wanted to know. What he found might surprise you and stands as a very different viewpoint from those commonly believed about the former Sox star.
With Craig's permission, here in its entirety is the article he authored as published by SABR magazine. It is easily the most complete analysis of the subject available anywhere on the internet. White Sox Interactive is pleased to bring it to you.
In recent years, I have been surprised at the harsh assessments of the career of Dick Allen, from his brief bio in "Total Baseball" to Bill James' scathing comments in his otherwise excellent book on the Hall of Fame, "The Politics of Glory" A grudging respect is given to Allen's offensive numbers which are easily understood and irrefutable in their excellence, but in the grayer areas of player evaluation, it seems that great liberties have been taken to shed the worst possible light on his career.
For example, the assessment of Allen's defense in Total Baseball begins with the mocking comment, "He came to the Phillies a professed third baseman," and goes on to note that he led the league in errors a couple times and ended up being shifted to first base. The truth is that Allen never played third base in the minors, and had the unenviable task of learning the position while breaking into the majors at age 21. Allen was error prone, but it is inaccurate to suggest to future generations that he was a brutal third baseman whose poor fielding led to his move to first base.
From 1964 to 1967, Allen had more assists and started more double plays at third base than any NL third baseman except Gold Glover Ron Santo. And that was true even though a dislocated throwing shoulder kept Allen from playing 3rd base for nearly half the 1966 season.
In recent years, I have been surprised at the harsh assessments of the career of Dick Allen, from his brief bio in "Total Baseball" to Bill James' scathing comments in his otherwise excellent book on the Hall of Fame, "The Politics of Glory" A grudging respect is given to Allen's offensive numbers which are easily understood and irrefutable in their excellence, but in the grayer areas of player evaluation, it seems that great liberties have been taken to shed the worst possible light on his career.
For the balance of the article, please go to www.expressfan.com/dickallenhof/docs/anotherview.pdf
Courtesy of Expressfan.com
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