Chili Dog MVP was featured on National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum‘s Virtual Author Series with an interview with Bruce Markusen, John Owens and David Fletcher on October 13, 2022.
Owens and Fletcher discuss the impact of Allen, his White Sox teammates, and legendary broadcaster Harry Caray on the landscape of Chicago baseball.
Steve Dale is joined by John Owens, Co-Author of Chili Dog MVP: Dick Allen, The 1972 White Sox and A Transforming Chicago. John shares details about the process of interviewing previous White Sox players as part of the research for this book; the changes the team and city have gone through over the years, and more. Order a copy today!
The new book tells the story not just of the Sox’s Dick Allen, but of Chicago in the late 1960s and early ’70s.
Dick Allen kept the White Sox in Chicago. That’s the argument authors John Owens and David J. Fletcher make in their new book, Chili Dog MVP: Dick Allen, the ’72 White Sox and a Transforming Chicago. By the late 1960s, the Sox already had one foot out of the city: they were playing 10 games a year in Milwaukee, and Bud Selig had made an offer to buy the team and move them 90 miles north permanently. The Sox acquired Allen in a trade from the Dodgers before the 1972 season, offering him a $140,000 a year contract — a quarter of their payroll. Allen rewarded his new team with an MVP season that renewed interest in baseball on the South Side. This month, Allen came up one vote short of election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Golden Era Committee. That’s an overdue honor, say the authors.
Owens: He definitely did, because he energized the fan base and brought the fan base back. They only drew for 475,000 in ’70. Dick was a superstar. He was arguably the best player in baseball at that time. The stats prove it. If you look at sabermetrics and modern stats, from 1964 to 1974, there was no better player in baseball. He was a gate attraction because of who he was. He was an iconoclast, he was portrayed as a rebel — and he was for baseball, because he knew his self-worth. He bargained for his salary. Held out for what he was worth every year. So he was resented for that and for other things. But he was Michael Jordan in Chicago before Michael Jordan.
Owens: He was a great five-tool player, so he was appointment viewing. You had to be in your seat when he was at bat, because something good was going to happen, something that you’ve never seen. Yeah, he’s a normal-sized man. He was only like 5’11”, maybe 180, 190, but he swung a 40-ounce bat, and he was just a true threat. In addition to his talent is that he was the epitome of cool. I was 7 years old when he was traded to the Sox in ’72, so as a Black child growing up on the South Side, he especially had significance for me, because he was so cool. He dressed like Superfly.
Fletcher: It energized the fan base, especially the mystery because he held out in spring training. And then the first game out in Kansas City was on April 15, the anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s debut, he hits a frickin’ home run in the top of the ninth against the Royals. Unfortunately, they lost in extra innings. In the beginning, the White Sox had a terrific home record. Comiskey Park was the place to be. It just brought energy and hope to the fans. He also had a great surrounding cast. He was the star attraction, but Carlos May, he was the second leading hitter on the team that year. He almost won the American batting crown against Rod Carew. You had Bill Melton, Wilbur Wood, Terry Forster, you know, “the fat tub of goo”?
But it’s not just a baseball book. It’s a book about Chicago and about plantation politics and Jesse Jackson and what happened in the aftermath of the Fred Hampton murder, what changed in Chicago, and we really weave that in the story about the Crosstown Freeway, the Democratic Convention in ’72, just the changing of the guard. That’s what makes it a Chicago story. Dick came out of nowhere. We needed a hero like him to energize the fan base. Suddenly, the Sox were relevant. People were coming to Comiskey Park. They had a young, exciting team. They almost won it in ’72. They started out great in ’73. But unfortunately, Dick broke his leg in June of 1973, and he never really recovered from that injury.
Chuck Garfien continues his two-part series on Dick Allen by speaking with Ferguson Jenkins who was on the Golden Days Era committee that left Allen one vote shy of the Hall of Fame. Jenkins had Allen first on his ballot. He speaks with Chuck about the vote and why he believes Allen belongs in the Hall of Fame. Then, Chuck speaks with Allen’s former White Sox teammate Carlos May about what made Allen such a special player, his famous Sports Illustrated cover, the new book about Allen entitled ‘Chilli Dog MVP’, and more.
“One of my big slogans through my lifetime has been ‘enjoy the moment.’ Well I’m enjoying this one guys, believe me.”
– Roland Hemond, accepting the Buck O’Neil Award
“Roland Hemond came to Cooperstown as the 2011 Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award winner after a lifetime spent in baseball assembling championship teams and building treasured relationships. With a perpetual twinkle in his eye, Roland had a love for the game that was fueled by a respect and admiration for all who played it. He worked tirelessly to help baseball family members in need and never wavered in his commitment to serve. We extend our condolences to his wife, Margo, and the entire Hemond family.”
– Jane Forbes Clark, Chairman, Baseball Hall of Fame
Born: Oct. 26, 1929 at Central Falls, R.I.
Died: Dec. 13, 2021
Roland Hemond revolutionized front office management and strategy during a seven-decade career in baseball while spending his post-general manager days assisting baseball family members in need.
Hemond first rose to prominence in the late 1950s as the assistant scouting director for the Milwaukee Braves. Hemond helped assemble a Braves team that won National League pennants in 1957 and 1958, along with the 1957 World Series.
Hemond became the scouting director for the Los Angeles Angels in their debut season of 1961, remaining with the franchise until 1970, when he became the Chicago White Sox’s general manager. With the Sox, Hemond orchestrated a 31-game improvement over the course of the 1970-72 seasons, winning the Sporting News MLB Executive of the Year award in 1972. Hemond remained the White Sox’s general manager through the 1985 season, assembling the team that won the 1983 American League West title. Hemond won his second Executive of the Year honor in 1983.
Hemond served as the president of the Association of Professional Baseball Players of America, which provides financial assistance and college scholarships to current and former players, scouts and others connected with pro baseball. Hemond also helped found the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation, designed to provide assistance to longtime scouts who are in need of special support.
Visit BaseballHall.org to read about Roland Hemond’s life and view a video tribute…
Dick Allen, who passed away Dec. 7 of last year at the age of 78, missed being elected to the Hall of Fame by one vote.
Once again. Just like 2014.
“I don’t understand it, I don’t see the justice,’’ [Mark “Frog’’] Carfagno told USA TODAY Sports. “Four of the top five all got an increase in votes but Dick. It’s not fair. He was the best player on the ballot.
“I feel so bad for the family. It doesn’t make any sense. I’m starting to think it’s a conspiracy.’’
Carfagno, 68, who has led Allen’s Hall of Fame campaign since 2014, grew silent. He has spent at least 20 hours a week for the past seven years spreading the word on Allen’s greatness, trying to make sure why everyone understands that Allen should be in the Hall of Fame.
“We used to be so worried whether Dick would be alive when he got into the Hall of Fame,’’ Carfagno says. “Now, I’m worried whether I’ll be alive when it happens.’’
Carfagno plans to take a break for his own health.
“This has beaten me up so much,’’ says Carfagno, who worked on the Phillies’ grounds crew for 33 years when he became close friends with Allen, the seven-time All-Star, MVP and Rookie of the Year winner. “It’s just disappointment after disappointment.
“Even if he’s elected, I don’t think I could even have the strength now to go into that building.
“I don’t even think I can even go to a baseball game again. That’s how much this has taken out of me.’’
Allen won’t be up for another vote until 2026.
Bruce Levine and David Haugh were joined by Hall of Fame pitcher Goose Gossage to explain why it was a mistake for the great Dick Allen not to get elected into the Hall of Fame recently. Gossage also had great stories to share.
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 of 10 players whose primary contributions to the game came between 1950 and 1969. Each committee member could vote for up to four players, with 12 votes needed for election.
Allen again finished one vote shy of enshrinement. In 2014, he and Oliva received 11 votes, Kaat got 10 and Miñoso nine. Hodges got three or fewer votes that year.
All that was needed was 12 votes from a 16-member panel that included former teammates Mike Schmidt and Ferguson Jenkins.
Allen received 11.
Dick Allen’s Hall of Fame case met the same brutal fate it did seven years ago as he fell one vote shy Sunday of finally being inducted in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Allen, who died last December at 78, was denied entry by the Hall’s Golden Days Era committee. He needed 12 votes from a 16-member panel that included former teammates Mike Schmidt and Ferguson Jenkins. He received 11, the same amount he received in 2014 when the group last met. Allen’s next chance will be in 2026.
Allen played for five teams — the Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, White Sox, and A’s — during a 15-year career. He hit 351 homers while swinging a 42-ounce bat and his 165 OPS+ between 1964 and 1973 was the highest in the majors over that 10-year span. He won the Rookie of the Year in 1964 with the Phillies, captured the American League MVP in 1972 with the White Sox, and made seven All Star teams.
[Dick Allen’s] son, Richard Jr., said Allen had found peace with not having a bronze plaque in Cooperstown. He was honored in 2018 by the Negro League Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Mo. and said he considered that the real Hall of Fame.
“That’s the real hall for me,” Allen said. “They are a very elite group,” Allen said last year after the Phillies retired his No. 15. “They’re part of the legends. And to me, the way that it’s going, it could be a little political the way [the Baseball Hall of Fame] does things, but however, it’s beyond me. I pay no attention to it.”
The late, great former Phillies slugger was once again denied election to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Allen, who died a year ago this week at age 78, came up one vote short on the Golden Days Era ballot, which was announced Sunday night. He also finished one vote short of election in 2014, the last time the Golden Days Era committee assembled.
There seemed to be great momentum for Allen to finally get into Cooperstown this time.
The reality of his rejection stung his supporters.
“I am terribly disappointed,” Phillies managing partner John Middleton said moments after the announcement.
Middleton, along with Phillies Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt, had long championed Allen’s candidacy for election.
In September 2020, the Phillies retired Allen’s number 15.
“Dick Allen deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,” Schmidt said that day.
