‘This one hurt worse’: For Dick Allen’s family and friends, the long wait continues for the former Chicago White Sox slugger to get the call from the Hall of Fame
Richard Allen Jr. thought this finally would be the year for his father.
Dick Allen fell one vote short of being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by a committee in 2014, and the former Chicago White Sox slugger and 1972 American League MVP was again up for consideration Sunday to be awarded one of the game’s highest honors.
Twenty-five of Allen’s relatives and friends gathered for a watch party in Orlando, Fla., where the Hall of Fame’s Golden Days Era committee met. One by one, the elected players — Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Miñoso and Tony Oliva — were revealed in alphabetical order on MLB Network by Hall of Fame President Josh Rawitch.
As each player’s accomplishments were detailed before the name was announced, it quickly became apparent to Allen Jr.’s son, Richard Allen III, that the voting wasn’t going to turn out as they hoped.
“He’s whispering to me, ‘Pop-Pop didn’t get in,’” Allen Jr. recalled.
The 16-person Golden Days Era committee spent Sunday considering the resumes
