Dick Allen, who won the American League’s Most Valuable Player award in 1972 with the Chicago White Sox, has passed away at the age of 78, his family announced Monday.
Allen hit 351 home runs and drove in 1,119 RBI’s in his 15-year big league career, with stops with the Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, White Sox and Athletics.
“With sadness in our hearts, we need to share that Dick passed away this afternoon at his home in Wampum (Pennsylvania),” his family said on his official Twitter account.
Allen spent three seasons with the White Sox, winning the AL MVP award in 1972 as he hit 37 home runs and drove in 113 RBI’s. He led the league with 99 walks that season, slashing a remarkable .308/.420/.603 during the campaign.
Allen had also won the National League’s Rookie of the Year award in 1964 with the Phillies, with a league-leading 13 triples and a .318 batting average in 162 games for Philadelphia.
The slugger was an All-Star on seven occasions, including all three of his seasons with the White Sox.
Chicago Baseball
Allen was not elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame during his life, but there had been growing momentum behind his candidacy, as he fell just one vote short of enshrinement in a 2015 vote by the hall’s Golden Era Committee.
