Dick Allen and Dave Parker are the two newest members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The two were voted in by the Classic Baseball Era Committee on Sunday at the Winter Meetings in Dallas.
Allen played 15 MLB seasons and spent time with five teams. A majority of his playing time came with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox. Allen was a seven-time All-Star, 1972 American League MVP and was known for hitting monstrous home runs.
He died in December 2020 at the age of 78, but his friends and family were shown reacting to the news when it was announced.
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Parker was known as “The Cobra” during his 19-year career. He played for six teams including the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds. A two-time batting title champion, Parker also won a National League MVP, three Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Sluggers.
Parker and Allen were part of an eight-player ballot that featured players who contributed to the game of baseball prior to 1980. Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Steve Garvey, Vic Harris, Tommy John and Luis Tiant were the other six on the ballot.
Tiant was, once again, looked over. He’s part of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame and Hispanic Heritage Baseball Hall of Fame, and has been up for election into Cooperstown by the Veterans Committee in 2007, the Golden Era Committee in 2011 and 2014 and the Modern Baseball Era Committee in 2017. But he’s never made the cut.
Tiant died in October at the age of 83.
