COOPERSTOWN, NY/DALLAS, TX (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) — The Baseball Hall of Fame announced on Sunday that two players will be heading to Cooperstown thanks to a vote by the Classic Baseball Era Committee.
The Hall of Fame has announced that seven-time All-Star Dick Allen and World Series Champion Dave Parker received enough votes from the committee for induction. The vote was held by a 16-member committee that held their meeting on Sunday, Dec. 8 in Dallas, Texas. The vote considered players whose primary contribution to the game of baseball was prior to 1980.
Parker was named on 14 of the 16 ballots, while Allen was named on 13. To be named to the Hall of Fame via the Classic Era Baseball, a person must be named on 75 percent of the ballots.
The pair beat out six other players:
- three-time All-Star pitcher Luis Tiant,
- six-time All-Star infielder and 1964 National League MVP Ken Boyer,
- four-time All-Star pitcher — and originator of an eponymous surgical procedure — Tommy John,
- ten-time All-Star, 1974 MVP and four-time Golden Glove infielder Steve Garvey,
- six-time Negro League All-Star outfielder Vic Harris, and
- Negro League outfielder and pitcher John Donaldson.
Parker — nicknamed “the Cobra” during his playing days with the Pirates, Reds, Athletics, Brewers, Angels and Blue Jays — won two World Series titles in 1979 and 1989. He was named to seven All-Star Games in 19 seasons and won the National League MVP in 1978.
In his MVP season, Parker batted .334 and won the second of back-to-back batting titles. He appeared in the top ten of MVP voting six different times and won the Gold Glove for right-fielders three times. He also won the league’s first-ever Home Run Derby in 1985.
Allen spent 15 seasons in the Major Leagues for the Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, White Sox and Athletics. He won the National League Rookie of the Year in 1964, and was the American League’s MVP in 1972. A career .292 hitter, Allen was named to the All-Star Game seven times.
He also hit more than 20 home runs in nine straight seasons. Allen also led the league in slugging percentage and extra-base hits three times and on-base percentage twice.
In all, Allen hit 351 home runs in his career — 99th all-time — and drove in 1,119 runs. Those statistics were good enough for the Philadelphia Phillies to induct him onto their Wall of Fame in 1994 and retire his number 15 in August of 2020, shortly before he died in December at 78.
Both Parker and Allen will be inducted during Hall of Fame Weekend festivities. They’ll join any other inductees from the regular ballot, including first-time candidates Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia and last-chance candidate Billy Wagner. Those results are expected to be named on Tuesday, Jan. 21.
All of the candidates, including the Ford C. Frick award winner, will be honored July 25th through the 28th in Cooperstown. The induction ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, July 27.
