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This was supposed to be a time of celebration for Dick Allen, his family and the many friends who have spent years campaigning for him to finally be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Instead, Allen&rsquo;s loved ones and fans are mourning his death at age 78 on Dec. 7, another in a long list of great baseball players who have passed away in 2020, and still awaiting his ultimate recognition in Cooperstown.
				&ldquo;I am so saddened by Dick&rsquo;s passing and vow to continue working for the Hall of Fame to do the right thing and enshrine him where he belongs, honored among baseball&rsquo;s greatest ballplayers,&rdquo; said Mark Carfagno, a former member of the Philadelphia Phillies ground crew who became a good friend of Allen and is the driving force behind the Dick Allen belongs in the Hall of Fame movement. &ldquo;I was so fortunate to be able to get to know Dick, watch him hit those long home runs and excel in every facet of the game. More importantly, I was blessed to be his friend.&rdquo;
				Allen spent the majority of his accomplished major league career playing in Philadelphia, and the Phillies retired his uniform number 15 three months ago.
				&ldquo;The Phillies are heartbroken over the passing today of our dear friend and co-worker, Dick Allen,&rdquo; the team said in a statement. &ldquo;Dick will be remembered as not just one of the greatest and most popular players in our franchise&rsquo;s history, but also as a courageous warrior who had to overcome far too many obstacles to reach the level he did. Dick&rsquo;s iconic status will resonate for generations of baseball fans to come as one of the all-time greats to play America&rsquo;s Pastime.&rdquo;
				Despite having statistics equal to or better than a number of his contemporary players who are already enshrined in Cooperstown, Allen never had much support from the Baseball Writers of America who vote annually on Hall of Fame candidates. He wasn&rsquo;t known as a warm and fuzzy guy during his playing days, and many believe that is what cost him support by the writers. Those who know Allen, though, say he was a great, humble and funny guy and a terrific teammate who, as a young black man playing during the highly charged civil rights days in the 1960s, stood up to the extreme racism he experienced.
				&ldquo;I watched him interact with his teammates on the Phillies, quietly offer advice to stars such as Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa and Greg Luzinski, and spend hours talking with and helping young players you&rsquo;ve never even heard of,&rdquo; said Carfagno. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a gross misrepresentation to describe Dick as a malcontent and bad teammate.&rdquo;
				Hall of Fame relief pitcher Goose Gossage, who played with Allen on the Chicago White Sox where Allen won the American League Most Valuable Player award in 1972, agrees, calling him the greatest teammate he ever had during his long career in the major leagues.
				The Golden Era ballot committee was originally scheduled to vote on Dec. 6 during major league baseball&rsquo;s winter meetings on a number of deserving elderly candidates who, for one reason or another, have not yet been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Earlier this year, though, the Hall announced the Golden Era committee would not meet until December 2021, meaning that anyone the committee votes into the Hall of Fame will not officially be inducted until July 2022.
				&ldquo;That&rsquo;s too long to wait for these baseball greats,&rdquo; added Carfagno. &ldquo;It was too late for Dick, and many of the others are now over 80 years old. Guys like Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva and Maury Wills. They deserve the honor of going to Cooperstown, making their speeches and sharing in achieving baseball&rsquo;s highest recognition with their families, friends and fans.&rdquo;
				Being close to Allen for so long, Carfagno knew his friend&rsquo;s health was failing and he worked hard on the Allen belongs in the Hall of Fame campaign. Most recently, he arranged for billboards to appear on major thoroughfares in Philadelphia and encouraged people to continue reaching out to the Hall of Fame to not postpone the Golden Era ballot committee meeting. &ldquo;The pandemic was the reason given for postponing the committee meeting until December 2021, but I totally disagree. World governments are being run by zoom meetings. It&rsquo;s unbelievable to think the committee could not do the same,&rdquo; said Carfagno.
				The Hall of Fame, for its part, noted that the committee members often meet all day and stated that talking face-to-face is the best way to communicate on Golden Era ballot candidates. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a new world with the pandemic,&rdquo; countered Carfagno. &ldquo;If major corporations and countries around the globe can get their business done remotely, there is no reason the committee could not do the same.&rdquo;
				The last time the committee met six years ago, Dick Allen fell one vote short of being elected in the Hall of Fame, and he is considered a favorite to be elected the next time the committee meets. If just one additional committee member voted for him last time, he would have made his induction speech personally in the summer of 2015. Sadly, he can no longer do that.
				&ldquo;He will be with us in spirit when he finally makes it into the Hall of Fame,&rdquo; said Carfagno. &ldquo;His numbers speak for themselves and he will always be remembered as one of the most-feared sluggers baseball has ever seen.&rdquo;
				It&rsquo;s been a difficult year for the Hall of Fame with the deaths of Lou Brock, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Joe Morgan and Tom Seaver. That only magnifies the need to move swiftly in voting other deserving players into its ranks.
				For me, it&rsquo;s another of my childhood heroes who has passed on, and I&rsquo;m sure his Hall of Fame speech would have been memorable. After all, when asked years ago what he thought about artificial turf playing surfaces, Allen was quick to say, &ldquo;If a horse can&rsquo;t eat it, I don&rsquo;t want to play on it.&rdquo;
				When Dick Allen is finally inducted into the Hall, someone else will have to give his acceptance speech, perhaps his son, Richard Allen Jr., who knew Dick as a Hall of Fame dad. Here&rsquo;s hoping that Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva and Maury Wills will be able to speak for themselves when their day in Cooperstown arrives.

Allen’s passing highlights importance of Hall of Fame rectifying past oversights