Crash

I’m glad to see the right thing being done with respect to Dick Allen here, although it’s very unfortunate he couldn’t be appropriately honored when he was alive:

The Baseball Hall of Fame welcomed two dominant sluggers to its gallery on Sunday, with Dick Allen and Dave Parker gaining election through the Classic Baseball Era Committee.

Allen, who died of cancer at 78 years old in 2020, was elected by the committee, which considered eight candidates whose careers peaked before 1980. After missing election by one vote in both 2015 and 2022, Allen collected 13 of 16 votes for 81.3 percent.

Parker, who is 73 and has been fighting Parkinson’s disease, received 14 of 16 votes for 87.5 percent.

Jay Jaffe has a terrific profile of Allen and his Hall of Fame case — as someone who prizes peak dominance over bulk accumulation I’ve long thought he was a pretty easy case, especially after reading the Craig Wright essay Jaffe references arguing that the “character” issues were overblown.

Here’s Jaffe’s profile of the latest out-of-nowhere nominee, Dave Parker. Unlike Harold Baines, Parker was a great player at his young peak, but 1)he wasn’t nearly as dominant as Allen and 2)had fewer years near his top level despite Allen’s short career. There are worse players in the Hall of Fame but there are also plenty of better eligible players who haven’t been inducted — nothing against the Cobra but it’s another weird, arbitrary selection. This is cool as hell, though: