Here’s
a fun card to add to the 1974 “not so missing” line-up, a card for
former Chicago White Sox infielder Hank Allen, one of the Allen brothers
that included Ron and former A.L. MVP and N.L. Rookie of the Year Dick
(Richie):
For Hank, turns out he wrapped up a seven year stint in the Majors with
28 games during the 1973 season, batting .103 with four hits over 39
at-bats while playing both third and first base.
He made his debut with the Washington Senators in 1966, never really
playing full-time throughout his career with a high of 116 appearances
in 1967.
By the time he retired he finished with a .241 career average, with 212
hits in 881 at-bats, with six homers, 104 runs scored and 57 runs batted
in over 389 games.
I’ll always remember Hank as the very first 1970 card I ever got, this
as a ten-year-old at a neighborhood antique store in Bensonhurst,
Brooklyn in 1979, as I was JUST getting into “vintage” cards, leading to
this life-long obsession. I paid a quarter for both his and a Jack Aker
card.
I was especially psyched about the Allen card because it was my first
Washington Senators card, something that cemented the baseball “nerd”
tag my friends were already killing me with back then.