White Sox wallpaper

I was playing around with photoshop yesterday.

When the White Sox went back to their current black uniforms in the early 1990's -- I loved it. I was such a huge improvement over the parade of softball uniforms they had been wearing since 1976.

Now they have been wearing them for a while, I wish they would consider wearing the Dick Allen RED pin stripes from the early 1970's every once in a while. The Brewers wear retro uniforms on Sundays, I think this would be a great marketing idea for the White Sox.

The Rookie From Wampum

I recently discovered that Sports Illustrated.com has digitized each of their past magazines. You can now search for and read past articles. They even have scanned versions of the magazines available, including the original advertisements.

Here is what I found in the April 20th, 1964 issue.
The Rookie From Wampum, Pa.
Every year there are two big parades in Philadelphia. One is the Mummers' extravaganza on New Year's Day, when men wearing spangled costumes and feathers atop their heads strum banjos and weave all over Broad Street. The other is the one to third base in Connie Mack Stadium.

Since 1959 nearly four million people have sat in pained fascination and watched 25 different and generally incompetent souls trot out to third for the Phillies, some even weaving from side to side themselves before falling flat on their faces. This week, as the baseball season begins, No. 26 trots out. His name is Richie Allen, and he just might be capable of turning Philadelphia back into a one-parade town.

You can read the rest of this story here.

Jackie Robinson Day 2009

I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me...

All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.
~ Jackie Robinson

RIP

Harry Kalas

1936-2009

Harry's voice was a gift from God.

Allowing me to hear him call Phillies games was one of God's gift to me.

Thanks for the memories Harry.

Don Sutton

Here is a cool image of Dick Allen talking with future Hall of Famer Don Sutton at the 1972 All Star game. Allen started at first representing the Chicago White Sox. That night Allen faced Sutton in the 4th inning and grounded into a fielders choice. A few months before this picture was taken, Allen and Sutton were teammates on the Dodgers. In the background you can see Lee May, Willie Stargell, and Nate Colbert.

In his career, Dick Allen only hit one home run off of Don Sutton in 35 total at bats. It happened on June 1st 1969 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The Dodgers still won the game.

Sutton was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998 after a long 23 season career. One of the primary arguments against Allen going into the Hall of Fame is that his career was not long enough. Sutton on the other hand was a classic "hall of fame stats accumulator" -- never really dominating the league (he finished 3rd in the Cy Young voting in 1976) but gathering enough wins (324) and strikeouts (3574) over his career to ensure his eventual entry.

Wilver Dornell Stargell

Now I know why they boo Richie all the time. When he hits a home run, there's no souvenir.

~ Willie Stargell

A couple of weeks ago I added the the DVD games from the 1979 World Series to my Netflix que. I've been watching the games when I spend some quality time on my treadmill. If you enjoy watching old games, these are some gems.

There isn't anything better than listening to the overly dramatic sounds of Howard Cosell and witnessing again the horrific Pittsburgh Pirates uniform combinations. You also get to see a young Eddie Murray, Dave Parker in his prime, and Willie Stargell lead the Pirates back from a 3 games to 1 deficit to their last World Championship.

Stargell is a contemporary of Dick Allen in almost every sense of the word. He started his Hall of Fame career one year before DA in 1963 and played longer (Willies retired in 1982) -- but they were both the same type of player. Willie Stargell was a powerful player and I have no doubt that he belongs in the Hall of Fame -- but I can't help but mention Stargell's Hall of Fame statistics/standards listed in Baseball Reference.com and offer a comparison to Dick Allen's.

Willie Stargell:
Black Ink : Batting - 17 (131), Average HOFer ≈ 27Gray Ink : Batting - 125 (144), Average HOFer ≈ 144Hall of Fame Monitor : Batting - 105 (139), Likely HOFer ≈ 100Hall of Fame Standards : Batting - 43 (108), Average HOFer ≈ 50

Dick Allen:
Black Ink : Batting - 27 (67), Average HOFer ≈ 27Gray Ink : Batting - 159 (74), Average HOFer ≈ 144Hall of Fame Monitor : Batting - 99 (151), Likely HOFer ≈ 100Hall of Fame Standards : Batting - 38 (161), Average HOFer ≈ 50

World Series Ring

Check out Dick Allen's new ring !!!!

The Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series last year. Yesterday they delivered rings to the players in a fun on-field ceremony before the game with the Braves.

Over the years I have known many club employees that proudly show off their championship hardware because most major league clubs will give out rings to all their employees. Dick Allen currently works with the Phillies in their Community Relations organization.

Congrats on the new 'bling big fella - you deserve it !!!

1977: The Final Year

Dick Allen's final year in Major League Baseball was a short lived experiment with the Oakland Athletics. It did not end well, as DA basically refused to be a DH and retired for good in June.

Charlie Finley still owned the team, but the A's were several years removed from their incredible dynasty teams of the early 1970's.

When I first started collecting DA memorabilia there was virtually nothing available from that short lived 1977 season. Over the years I have been able to find a decent collection of photos documenting that season. This morning I decided to put together the first ever Dick Allen WAMPUM #60 wallpaper and re-launch the 1977 Oakland photo gallery, and have included several images that I have purchased (noted by the expressfan photos watermark). Enjoy.

1974 All Star Game RBI

Here is a short video of DA driving in a run during the 1974 All Star Game played in Pittsburgh. I captured it a couple of years ago on ESPN Classic.

Allen started at first for the American League. He got 2 at bats and drove in a run with this single in the 3rd inning.

Other players you will see in the video: Andy Messersmith (pitcher), Johnny Bench (catcher), Pete Rose (LF), Rod Carew (scores), Reggie Jackson (moves to 2B), and Joe Morgan (2B).

Baseball card time machine #2

<---- I don't think I will get anyone to disagree that the Dick Allen 1970 Topps card is just plain horrible. It features DA in a side profile "mug shot" photo in what is clearly a Phillies uniform. Given how short his hair is and the fact he has a regular hat on, the picture had to have been taken during the 1964 or 65 season. By 1969 Allen had a batting helmet with decent afro, long sideburns, and a strong mustache.

At the time, Topps really had no choice because there was not any photos of him in a St Louis uniform. They needed to produced a set of baseball cards with what they had. To make things worse, Topps actually used the same picture again in 1972 with his first White Sox card (I will address that with another project later).

My task for this baseball card time machine project is to fix the 1970 Cardinals card into something Dick Allen fans will be proud of. His one year in St. Louis he was called "Rich", so I will maintain that name on the card as produced by Topps. To this day, there is not that many great color images of him available in a Cardinals uniform (I have some cool black and white images I have bought) -- however it only takes one shot, and I found one that I think works.

As always, if you have any images or ideas that you want to share, please feel free to comment below or send me an email.