Still No Spot For Allen In Cooperstown Niekro, Sutton Seem Most Likely If Voters Pick Any Player At All

It is 33 years now since he first stepped into the batter’s box at 21st and Lehigh.

His forearms were the size of City Hall. He hit baseballs that came down around City Hall.

He was known as Richie Allen then. But his name is listed as Dick Allen on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot - the last one on which Richie-Rich-Dick-“Crash” Allen will ever appear.

In 14 years on the ballot, Allen has never come within 200 votes of being elected. We regret to report he won’t this year, either.

He was a childhood idol to this voter and the most electrifying player we’ve ever seen in a Phillies uniform. But as much as we wanted to cast a sentimental vote for him in his final year on the ballot, we couldn’t do it.

When we think of Dick Allen, we think - unfortunately - of a player who was never all he could have been. Or should have been. He had Hall of Fame talent. But those bursts of Hall of Fame brilliance just didn’t quite add up to a Hall of Fame career. We wish they had.

So they won’t be announcing Dick Allen’s election to the Hall tomorrow night. And for the second straight year, the question is: Will “anybody” be elected? Here are the major threats:

Phil Niekro

Crept within 32 votes last year. Is disparaged for riding those fluky 48-mile-an-hour flutter balls to 318 wins. But hold on. Niekro was still winning 16 games at age 46. He threw a no-hitter. He won five Gold Gloves. He was an ace on two playoff teams. He averaged 18 wins a year for four “last-place” teams. If he wasn’t a great pitcher, why did hitters hate facing him so much?

Don Sutton

Modern baseball really started 75 years ago, when Babe Ruth invented the home-run trot. OK, so how many right-handed pitchers have won more games than Sutton (324) in those 75 years? Answer: “None.” (He’s tied with Nolan Ryan.) The knock on Sutton was that he wasn’t as dominant as, say, Steve Carlton. If that’s true, how come Sutton threw more shutouts, had virtually the same ERA (3.26 to 3.22), and held hitters to a lower batting average? He missed by 53 votes last time.

Tony Perez

Mysteriously went up 50 votes in ‘96 from the year before (but still 44 short). Gets shortchanged because he was overshadowed by his fellow Big Red Machinists. But Perez was a leader in Cincinnati, Montreal and Philadelphia. He drove in 90-plus runs in 11 straight seasons. He had more RBIs than Mike Schmidt and more hits than Ted Williams. And no eligible players with as many RBIs as Perez aren’t in the Hall.

First-timers

The best of the new candidates are Dwight Evans and Dave Parker. Evans had more extra-base hits in the ‘80s than any A.L. player, and won eight Gold Gloves. But in 20 seasons, he made just three all-star teams. Parker, meanwhile, has some imposing credentials (two batting titles, 10 seasons with 90-plus RBIs, three Gold Gloves, an MVP award). But he also got mixed up in a drug mess that almost wrecked the Pittsburgh franchise and had four straight seasons of nonproductivity in his prime.