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Sunday, July 31, 2011

On this day...

It was July 31st, 1972. The Chicago White Sox were closing out a quick two game road trip to Metropolitan Stadium in Minneapolis. The Sox had lost the day before 1-0 on a sixth inning Harmon Killebrew home run.

In the first inning, facing Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, Dick Allen smashes a line drive at Twins center fielder Bobby Darwin. Darwin slipped and the ball quickly scooted past him. When Darwin finally got to the ball, Dick Allen was already rounding third, easily making it all the way around the bases for an inside the park home run.

In the fifth inning, Dick Allen crushed a towering shot to left center field. This time Darwin attempted to make a back-handed catch, and again failed to make the play. The ball bounced by him and all the way to the 430 foot fence as Allen rounded the bases again, for his second inside the park home run.

The White Sox won 8-1, and Allen had driven in 5 runs.

4 comments:

Dan E said...

Great find on that clip, my man; just re-posted it with a link on the Big Hair & Plastic Grass Facebook page...

Dick Allen Hall of Fame said...

Thanks Dan! I knew you would like it, so I posted that comment on the FB page.

Once again, I prove to myself the internet is the greatest invention ever.

Jitterbug Boy said...

I like to refer to it as the day Bert got circled. I guess you have to watch Blyleven's announcing of Twins games to get that one. Thanks for the article.

Dick Allen Hall of Fame said...

I know exactly what you mean. I got a cool pic or Bert and Nolan Ryan chatting before the Twins/Rangers game this past week. Lots of Twins fans in the stands with signs asking Bert to "circle them".

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