4 days ago
Ahead of Dick Allen's Baseball Hall of Fame induction, Chicago White Sox teammates reflect on his lasting impact
Goose Gossage attempted to find his groove during a workout session leading into the 1972 season.
The Chicago White Sox rookie pitcher noticed Dick Allen stroll over.
'I haven't even met him, I haven't even laid eyes on him — it's like (an) out of body (experience),' Gossage recalled in a recent phone interview.
Allen, a new addition to the club after an offseason trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers, initially stood off to the side and watched. And then he stepped in.
'And I think, 'Oh, my God, I'm going to kill Dick Allen,'' Gossage said. 'I'm throwing hard and I'm getting a workout in. He's tracking every ball all the way into the catcher's glove. Really concentrating.
'I can see the focus that he had. And watching every pitch that I threw and the movement and everything.'
When Gossage wrapped up, Allen came over for a formal introduction.
'And from there, it started,' Gossage said. 'He took me under his wing and taught me the game of baseball like no one.'
That education, on and off the field, helped Gossage along the way to a Hall of Fame career.
Allen's Cooperstown moment posthumously arrives Sunday as part of the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The class also features CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki, Billy Wagner and the late Dave Parker.
Allen and Parker were elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in December. After missing out by one vote in his two previous times on a ballot, Allen received 13 out of a possible 16 committee votes (81%) to earn enshrinement — clearing the 75% threshold.
'He deserves to be there,' Sox teammate Carlos May said in a phone interview. 'It's great for him to finally be there. I'd rather see it in his lifetime.'
Gossage cried on and off all evening after hearing the news.
'What I was crying about is he's not here to enjoy this,' Gossage said. 'I got goosebumps, no pun intended. What this man meant to me, I just can't hardly put into words.'
Allen, who died in December 2020 at age 78, had 351 home runs, 1,119 RBIs and a .292 average during a 15-year major-league career with the Philadelphia Phillies (1963-69, '75-76), St. Louis Cardinals (1970), Dodgers (1971), Sox (1972-74) and Oakland Athletics (1977). During his 11-year peak (1964-74), Allen's 165 OPS+ was the top in baseball.
He was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1964 with the Phillies and garnered seven All-Star selections — including three with the Sox.
'Every time you got around him, it was 'What's this guy going to be capable of doing next?' Sox teammate Tony Muser said in a phone interview. 'I was honored to be on the same club that he was.'
The Sox acquired Allen in a December 1971 trade, sending Tommy John and Steve Huntz to the Dodgers.
He hit .307 with 85 home runs and 242 RBIs in his three years with the Sox, earning American League MVP honors in 1972.
'He would hit one 500 feet and I would shoot one to left field,' May said. The two finished in the top five in the AL in hitting in 1972. 'He'd steal a base and I'd drive him in. We had a great lineup, some good ballplayers. He led by example.'
Sox teammate Tom Bradley said in a phone interview that Allen was 'like a Teddy Roosevelt, talk softly but carry a big stick. The bat he used weighed 40 or 42 ounces.
'He was a quiet leader, just went out there and produced.'
Allen took that production to another level in 1972, when he hit .308 with 37 home runs, 113 RBIs, 99 walks and a .603 slugging percentage.
'Ducks on the pond, he was a different Dick Allen,' Gossage said. 'He set pitchers up like you've never seen. From A to Z, I never saw anybody do what Dick Allen did.'
The 1972 season began with Allen hitting a home run in the ninth inning that briefly gave the Sox the lead against the Royals. His heroics throughout the season kept the Sox in a fight for the top spot in the AL West with the Athletics while rejuvenating baseball on the South Side.
Gossage said Allen would have hits that 'defied physics.'
During their time as teammates, Gossage said Allen clued him in on the importance of every part of the game.
'He taught me how to watch every little thing — how to watch cutoffs, how to watch where throws are, what the situation is on flyballs. What he's thinking as a hitter,' Gossage said. 'I could never mention Dick Allen's name without it being educational.
'Everything he did was teach you the game. The passion that that man had for this game, oh, my God.'
That passion and performance will forever be recognized at the Hall of Fame.
'As far as true athleticism, strength and speed and instincts, I never saw a player better,' Muser said.
