I don't know why it never dawned on me before, but not only was Dick
Allen missing from the 1977 Topps set, but he should also have been
included in the awesome 1978 set.
Looking back, we see that Allen was released by Oakland in March of
1978, well after Topps would have had their cards produced for the new
season.
And it's not like Allen didn't play at all in '77. He did manage to
get into 54 games, good for 200 plate appearances. Lord knows Topps had
a few players with less playing time slotted in that '78 set!
It really is strange since Allen was such a key player in the
decade, a former Most Valuable Player, and still somewhat of a viable
player considering so many of the other light-hitting/bad fielding guys
getting into every set of the '70's!
Take a look at my "missing" 1978 Dick Allen card:
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| The "Wampum Walloper" in Oakland. |
I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Dick Allen, even as a
kid before I knew of all the controversy surrounding the lightening rod
of a personality that the "Wampum Warrior" was throughout his career.
Sounds absurd, but it started way back in 1976 when my cousin (who
was a few years older and got me into collecting cards) kept joking
about the name "Dick Allen". Really makes no sense now, but it had us in
stitches all day long, and ever since then I
was hooked on this guy with the funny name and killer stats.
Allen certainly didn't make many friends during his days on the
diamond, but no one can take away from what he accomplished as a major
leaguer: Rookie of the Year in 1964, Most Valuable Player in 1972, near
Triple Crown that year, and leading his league
in twelve statistical categories over his career.
It's easy to overlook the fact that in only 6332 career at-bats the man had 351 homers, 1119 runs batted in and 1848 hits.
To put that in perspective, Hank Aaron had almost DOUBLE the career at-bats as Allen.
Now, I'm not trying to say that Allen could have been as consistent
as Aaron was throughout his career, but it IS amazing to see what Allen
accomplished at the plate in 6000+ at-bats.
The man was a force when he was healthy, but sadly, he just couldn't sustain it over the course of a nice, long, FULL career.
PS- I know it's a little bit of a tangent here, but it IS amazing
to remember that Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs in 8399 at-bats, compared
to the 755 home runs Aaron hit in 12364 at-bats!
Think about it: Aaron had HALF of Ruth's career MORE at-bats!
Babe Ruth=MONSTER at the plate (and no slouch on the mound either!)
Incredible…