The weekend of July 27 was a red-letter weekend for late baseball slugger Dick Allen and his family, friends, and supporters. But one person may have savored and enjoyed the weekend more than anyone else, and that was Allen’s son and namesake, Richard Allen Jr.
It was a time of triumph and reflection as he celebrated his late father’s big day. During the weekend, he got to rub elbows with a lot of baseball royalty. Many members of that royalty shared with Richard their memories of his father and what he meant to them.
I was able to persuade Richard to share with us his memories of that magical weekend. What follows are those memories.
“When I decided to choose my flight to Cooperstown. I thought to myself, I don’t want to rush around. I didn’t want to get up early and scramble to the airport. There was a 5:08 a.m. flight. I wanted to get there comfortably. Well, I might as well have taken the 5:08 a.m. flight since I didn’t really sleep. I was awake at 5 a.m., waiting to catch a 12:15 p.m. flight, and I live less than 10 miles from Tampa International Airport. When I landed in Albany, NY, there was a driver waiting for me. I was told about golfing while in Cooperstown, so as we waited for my golf clubs, I got a poke in the ribs and a congratulations. It took a while, but it happened; it was Ozzie Smith. The driver tells me that when you get your clubs, we will be on our way. We left out of a side door exit. My clubs get loaded up, and I shared a ride with Alan Trammel and his wife Barbara. Both are very nice people. I got settled in and walked through the lobby.
“I saw a few people I know. I say hi to Tony Perez. My father told me that he played his entire career against him. I said that to Tony, and he said, ‘That’s right, we did.’” He said, ‘Me and your dad were like brothers, even though we played on different teams.’ He said that his real name is, Antanasio. ‘Everyone called me Tony, but when I played against your dad, he would yell across the field, ‘Antanasio.’
“Later that evening, I was introduced to Wade Boggs. He said welcome to the family! Eddie Murray chatted with me as well. I had a few Heinekens in honor of my father. His choice of beer. We walked into town from the Otesaga Hotel the next day, and I was reintroduced to the Hemonds [Rollie Hemond was the former owner of the Chicago White Sox and was the owner at the time Dick Allen played for them], Jay and his sister. I forget her name. She reminded me when we took batting practice on the field, and she out-hit me! Roland Hemond’s kids. I was also reacquainted with several Chicago White Sox batboys who remembered me. I ran into Ray Burris. He looked good. He said he lost 30 pounds.
“As I am walking the streets. My family from California, Ohio, and Florida were there. I could barely take three steps without someone congratulating me or telling me a story about my father. I shook a lot of hands and took a lot of pictures with people I didn’t know. I commented on a guy’s t-shirt. It was an image of my father. He said, ‘Do you want it?’ I said no, no, that’s OK. He takes it off, throws it at me, and walks away!
“My uncle, Ron Allen, and Ted Simmons exchanged laughs. There was a guy whose name I cannot remember; he was black. He looked as if he may have been black and Asian himself. His wife was Asian. He said he played with the Cardinals. He stopped to tell me something about my father. He got emotional and walked away. His wife said that he talks about your father all the time, and every time he talks about him, he gets emotional. He said he was a rookie, and your dad was larger than life! He said, ‘your dad sat next to me in the dugout and said, ‘I’m going to sit next to you, because you don’t say much!’ He said that he learned something from my father. He said, ‘your dad struck out, next at-bat each time he would sit down take his batting gloves off and just sit there. Next at-bat homerun! He sat down, took his gloves off, as if it were nothing.’ He said he asked a question, I don’t remember the question, but he said my father’s answer was, ‘because I am going to strike out again.’ It must have been that he wasn’t overly excited about the HR. I told him that was one of the things my father told me. ‘Don’t be afraid to put that bat back in the rack.’ He wasn’t concerned with striking out. He would say it’s part of the game. Stand in there and take your cuts.
“I played golf with Fergie Jenkins and Billy Williams’ grandson. I also had a few words with Billy Williams. Johnny Bench shared a story with me, and he also shared a story that my father had about him. He said my dad tried to steal on him in spring training. ‘He threw me out by seven steps!’
“I was invited to the Chairman’s Dinner at Jane Forbes Clark’s (Chairman of the Hall of Fame) house and had the honor of meeting Ichiro and his wife. My son was really excited. He was talking with Johnny Bench. Introduced himself to Derek Jeter, as did I, and met Jack Morris. I talked with Lee Smith. Went to a private Phillies party, Mike Schmidt spoke very nicely of my dad. Movie producer Mike Tollin spoke very well of him also. The Phillies brought my dad’s retired number to Cooperstown. Jimmy Rollins attended along with other Phillies personnel. Long-time advocate of my father, Mark Carfagno, “frog.” He is the person who refused to quit and was also there. We took a picture in front of the plaque. I flew back to Tampa for two days and then flew to Philly for the Phillies Alumni Weekend and the mural dedication of my father.”
