Dick Allen

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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Dick Allen

Dick Allen as Seen Through Player Won-Lost Records

Dick Allen recently passed away. This is an update of an article I originally wrote in 2014 when Dick Allen appeared on the Veterans' Committee ballot.

Five highlights of Dick Allen's career:

Dick Allen was named National League Rookie of the Year in 1964. That season, he played in all 162 games for the Philadelphia Phillies, batting .318/.382/.557 with 29 home runs and 91 RBI. Allen led the National League in triples (13), total bases (352), and runs scored (129).

Allen was named the American League MVP in 1972 in his first season with the Chicago White Sox. That season, Allen batted .308/.420/.603 with 37 home runs and 113 RBI. Those numbers all led the AL except for the .308 batting average (which was third-best).

Allen was named to seven All-Star teams in his career, starting five times at two positions: third base in 1965 and 1967, both for the NL, and first base in 1970 (for the NL), 1972 (for the AL), and 1974 (again for the AL).

Allen hit 30 or more home runs in a season six times, leading his league twice (1972 and 1974), and finishing with 351 career home runs. Allen led his league in fewest at bats per home run three times (1966, 1972, and 1974).

Two of Dick Allen's brothers, Hank and Ron, also played in the major leagues. Hank played seven seasons and he and Dick were teammates on the 1972-73 Chicago White Sox. Ron played one season in the major leagues, appearing in seven games for the 1972 St. Louis Cardinals.

The first two tables below present Dick Allen's career as measured by Player won-lost records, in and out of context.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWORL	pWOPA

Basic Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1963	PHI	21	10	0.8	0.4	0.4	0.4
1964	PHI	22	162	25.2	17.7	9.0	6.8
1965	PHI	23	161	21.6	18.6	4.3	2.3
1966	PHI	24	141	23.1	16.0	8.2	6.3
1967	PHI	25	122	19.3	14.5	6.0	4.3
1968	PHI	26	152	25.4	17.8	8.5	6.3
1969	PHI	27	118	14.2	11.9	2.1	0.8
1970	SLN	28	122	15.0	12.2	3.1	1.7
1971	LAN	29	155	21.3	17.7	4.4	2.5
1972	CHA	30	148	23.3	12.1	11.5	9.7
1973	CHA	31	72	7.8	6.3	1.8	1.1
1974	CHA	32	128	14.6	11.5	3.4	2.2
1975	PHI	33	119	12.1	11.7	0.2	-1.0
1976	PHI	34	85	8.7	8.0	0.6	-0.2
1977	OAK	35	53	5.3	5.1	0.4	-0.1
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,748	237.7	181.4	63.8	43.1
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			3	0.1	0.3	-0.2	-0.2
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			1,751	237.8	181.7	63.6	42.9

Season	Team	Age	Games	eWins	eLosses	eWORL	eWOPA

Expected Player Won-Lost Records
						Value Decomposition
1963	PHI	21	10	0.6	0.6	0.1	-0.0
1964	PHI	22	162	24.3	18.6	7.0	4.9
1965	PHI	23	161	22.2	17.9	5.6	3.6
1966	PHI	24	141	22.6	16.4	7.5	5.6
1967	PHI	25	122	19.1	14.7	5.9	4.3
1968	PHI	26	152	24.0	19.2	5.8	3.7
1969	PHI	27	118	15.1	10.9	4.1	2.8
1970	SLN	28	122	15.3	11.9	3.6	2.3
1971	LAN	29	155	21.7	17.3	5.1	3.2
1972	CHA	30	148	21.9	13.5	8.9	7.2
1973	CHA	31	72	8.2	5.9	2.5	1.8
1974	CHA	32	128	15.0	11.2	4.2	3.0
1975	PHI	33	119	11.8	11.9	-0.3	-1.5
1976	PHI	34	85	8.9	7.8	1.1	0.3
1977	OAK	35	53	5.2	5.3	0.0	-0.5
			------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,748	236.0	183.0	61.2	40.5
			------	------	------	------	------
PostSeason (career)			3	0.2	0.3	-0.1	-0.1
			------	------	------	------	------
COMBINED			1,751	236.2	183.3	61.2	40.4

Dick Allen finished one vote short of election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2014 and would have been eligible to be considered by the Golden Days Committee this year but for the pandemic. So, what is Dick Allen's Hall-of-Fame case, or rephrased somewhat, what is Dick Allen's place in baseball history?

Batting

At the risk of offending sabermetric-savvy readers, Dick Allen's Hall-of-Fame case is similar in nature to that of Jim Rice: at his best, Dick Allen was one of the most feared batters in baseball. Dick Allen played 140 or more games only 6 times in his career. In those seasons, he won an MVP and a Rookie-of-the-Year Award, and finished top 10 in MVP voting three times. Allen qualified for the batting title 10 times and made 7 All-Star games - including one in 1973 when he appeared in only 72 games with 288 (excellent) plate appearances. Allen led his league in OBP twice, SLG twice, and OPS four times.

Dick Allen's Hall-of-Fame case is primarily about what he did in the batters' box, and all about quality, not quantity. The next table shows the top 25 players in career batting wins over non-pitcher average since 1961 (the first year of major-league expansion and the 162-game season).

		Top 25 Players, Career Batting Wins over Non-Pitcher Average, since 1961
		eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	eWOPA
1	Barry Bonds	309.4	187.3	0.623	115.2
2	Mike Schmidt	239.5	165.3	0.592	68.0
3	Hank Aaron	235.6	162.6	0.592	67.2
4	Frank E. Thomas	227.8	161.4	0.585	66.0
5	Manny Ramirez	231.9	165.7	0.583	65.2
6	Jim Thome	229.9	164.0	0.584	64.6
7	Alex Rodriguez	268.1	203.9	0.568	63.2
8	Frank Robinson	213.4	145.6	0.595	63.0
9	Reggie Jackson	261.2	196.7	0.570	62.5
10	Willie McCovey	229.6	161.1	0.588	62.4
11	Albert Pujols	280.9	214.9	0.567	61.6
12	Mark McGwire	181.1	121.0	0.599	58.8
13	Harmon Killebrew	206.2	143.2	0.590	58.1
14	Willie Stargell	219.5	156.3	0.584	57.2
15	Jeff Bagwell	214.8	153.1	0.584	56.1
16	Gary Sheffield	242.7	183.2	0.570	55.0
17	Willie Mays	181.4	122.3	0.597	54.2
18	Carl Yastrzemski	292.2	233.0	0.556	54.1
19	Chipper Jones	241.3	181.6	0.571	53.4
20	Miguel Cabrera	234.1	179.2	0.566	52.6
21	Dick Allen	177.6	122.7	0.591	50.8
22	David Ortiz	230.2	178.9	0.563	50.3
23	Joe L. Morgan	233.5	178.0	0.567	49.0
24	Rickey Henderson	259.4	209.8	0.553	48.2
25	Jason Giambi	197.7	149.5	0.569	47.3

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

Dick Allen was among the top 25 batters of the past 60 years. Note, in particular, that he accomplished this in far fewer decisions than every player above him in the above table except for Mark McGwire and Willie Mays (the table excludes Mays's contributions prior to 1961). Ignoring quantity and focusing on quality, Allen's batting win percentage in one of the highest in the above table.

Dick Allen's Prime

As noted above, Dick Allen only qualified for a batting title 10 times and only played 140 or more games 6 times. Based on that, Dick Allen's Hall-of-Fame case is not a career case: he had fewer than 2,000 hits and 400 home runs in his career (1,848 and 351, respectively). But the 10 years in which Allen qualified for a batting title fell within an 11-year period from 1964 - 1974. During that time period, Dick Allen was one of the best players in Major League Baseball.

The next table shows the top 25 players in MLB from 1964 - 1976, as measured by pWins over positional average or replacement level.

Top 25 Players, 1964 - 1974, pWOPA and pWORL

		pWins over Positional Average Top 25 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 25 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Bob Gibson	197.5	157.4	51.5	72.5	1	Bob Gibson	197.5	157.4	51.5	72.5
2	Hank Aaron	237.2	174.9	47.2	67.7	2	Hank Aaron	237.2	174.9	47.2	67.7
3	Willie McCovey	183.1	123.6	45.4	60.7	3	Dick Allen	210.8	156.2	44.0	62.2
4	Willie Mays	187.3	135.2	44.5	60.6	4	Frank Robinson	217.1	162.5	41.8	61.4
5	Dick Allen	210.8	156.2	44.0	62.2	5	Juan Marichal	172.3	140.5	42.5	61.1
6	Juan Marichal	172.3	140.5	42.5	61.1	6	Willie McCovey	183.1	123.6	45.4	60.7
7	Frank Robinson	217.1	162.5	41.8	61.4	7	Willie Mays	187.3	135.2	44.5	60.6
8	Tom Seaver	146.7	114.9	40.3	55.6	8	Fergie Jenkins	176.1	146.8	38.6	57.9
9	Joe L. Morgan	193.5	157.2	40.2	57.5	9	Joe L. Morgan	193.5	157.2	40.2	57.5
10	Fergie Jenkins	176.1	146.8	38.6	57.9	10	Carl Yastrzemski	239.1	188.7	35.7	56.8
11	Harmon Killebrew	190.6	141.9	37.1	53.7	11	Tom Seaver	146.7	114.9	40.3	55.6
12	Willie Stargell	214.3	164.2	36.0	54.7	12	Willie Stargell	214.3	164.2	36.0	54.7
13	Carl Yastrzemski	239.1	188.7	35.7	56.8	13	Harmon Killebrew	190.6	141.9	37.1	53.7
14	Roberto Clemente	191.3	143.8	35.7	52.3	14	Brooks Robinson	225.5	186.2	32.6	52.9
15	Johnny Bench	132.2	100.9	32.7	44.3	15	Roberto Clemente	191.3	143.8	35.7	52.3
16	Brooks Robinson	225.5	186.2	32.6	52.9	16	Gaylord Perry	195.0	175.4	29.1	52.0
17	Jimmy Wynn	220.8	178.0	31.5	51.2	17	Ron Santo	225.8	187.7	31.3	51.9
18	Ron Santo	225.8	187.7	31.3	51.9	18	Jimmy Wynn	220.8	178.0	31.5	51.2
19	Jim Palmer	119.7	93.7	31.3	44.2	19	Billy Williams	247.2	201.2	28.4	50.6
20	Gaylord Perry	195.0	175.4	29.1	52.0	20	Jim Kaat	167.1	148.7	27.2	46.2
21	Reggie Jackson	155.9	119.2	28.6	42.3	21	Joe Torre	193.3	159.0	28.0	45.4
22	Al Kaline	173.1	134.4	28.6	44.3	22	Pete Rose Sr.	238.1	205.3	23.3	45.2
23	Billy Williams	247.2	201.2	28.4	50.6	23	Al Kaline	173.1	134.4	28.6	44.3
24	Joe Torre	193.3	159.0	28.0	45.4	24	Johnny Bench	132.2	100.9	32.7	44.3
25	John 'Boog' Powell	173.9	131.8	27.6	42.8	25	Jim Palmer	119.7	93.7	31.3	44.2

Dick Allen ranks in the top five in major-league baseball in both pWOPA and pWORL from 1964 - 1976. This time period is, of course, cherry picked to accentuate Dick Allen's case. Having said that, though, Dick Allen is the only non-Hall-of-Famer among the top 16 players in pWOPA and among the top 17 players in pWORL in the above table.

Dick Allen's Place in Philadelphia Phillies History

Dick Allen spent the majority of his career as a Philadelphia Phillie. The final table in this article shows the top 10 players in Philadelphia Phillies history as measured by career pWins over positional average, pWOPA, amassed as a Phillie.

	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWinPct	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Mike Schmidt	338.5	257.6	0.568	71.0	99.7
2	Steve Carlton	239.9	207.8	0.536	47.0	72.9
3	Robin Roberts	238.5	216.8	0.524	35.1	62.8
4	Chase Utley	205.1	170.4	0.546	35.3	53.3
5	Jimmy Rollins	271.7	253.5	0.517	25.9	51.2
6	Bobby Abreu	190.4	152.6	0.555	26.7	43.5
7	Dick Allen	150.2	116.5	0.563	26.1	39.3
8	Cole Hamels	123.4	110.2	0.528	22.0	36.6
9	Ryan Howard	182.7	149.4	0.550	18.0	34.0
10	Del Ennis	238.2	215.5	0.525	6.4	30.0

I have only calculated Player won-lost records (mostly) since 1916, so I am missing several of the greatest players in Phillies history (e.g., Hall-of-Famers Grover Cleveland Alexander, Ed Delahanty, et al.). But Dick Allen's position here, even just since that time, is quite impressive, especially considering his additional contributions elsewhere (e.g., his only MVP award).

Article last updated: December 7, 2020

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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