(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Dave Parker and Dick Allen elected into Baseball Hall of Fame
Nederlands
 DALLAS, Texas (USA) -
Dave Parker and Dick Allen (posthumously) will be inducted into the Natonal Baseball Hall of Fame in July 2025.
On Sunday (December 8), the two powerhitters were elected by the Classic Baseball Era Committee after a long way en route to the Hall of Fame.
The announcement of the voting was made by Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, on the first day of the Major League Winter Meetings in the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas.
Each December, during the Winter Meetings, one of the Era Committees (formerly the Veterans Committee) comes together to consider retired Major League players, who are no longer eligible for the regular annual election in January by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Also considered are Managers, Umpires and Executives, whose contributions to the game were realized either prior to 1980 or after 1980.
Through the years, there has been several different Committees.
From April 2022, there now are only two Committees.
= The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee considers persons of the period from 1980 to presemt day.
= The Classic Baseball Era Committee considers the period prior to 1980, as well as the Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues Stars.
The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee is split into two separate ballots.
One considers only Players, the other consists of Managers, Executives and Umpires.
Each Committee votes once in three years.
The Classic Baseball Era Committee, which choose Dave Parker and Dick Allen, will get together again in 2027.
The Contemporary Baseball Era Committee (Players) will vote in December 2025, the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee (Managers/Executives/Umpires) in 2026.
Like in the regular election in January, one needs 75 percent of the votes to get elected.
As there are 16 committee-members, 12 votes were needed.
Parker received 14 votes, Allen got 13.
Parker and Allen were two of the eight players on the ballot, who were considered for election.
The others were Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Steve Garvey, Vic Harris, Tommy John and Luis Tiant (who passed away on October 8 at age 83).
John received seven votes.
The others received five or less.
Dave Parker, who was nicknamed 'The Cobra', played in 2,466 games in 19 seasons for Pittsburgh Pirates (1973-1983), Cincinnati Reds (1984-1987), Oakland Athletics (1988-1989), Milwaukee Brewers (1990), California Angels (1991) and Toronto Blue Jays (1991).
Parker, who turns 74 in January, collected 2,712 basehits, including 339 homeruns.
The leftfielder batted in 1,493 runs, was the National League MVP in 1978, was selected for seven All-Star Games and was Best Hitter in the National League in 1977 and 1978.
He won the World Series in 1979 with Pittsburgh and 1989 with Oakland.
In 1979, one of Parker's teammates was Dutch-born pitcher Bert Blyleven, who was elected himself into the Hall of Fame in January 2011.
In 2014, Parker was one of four former players to be elected into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
In 2022, Parker was one of nine persons who were part of the inaugural class elected into the Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame.
Dick Allen, who was a first baseman and third baseman, played in 15 Major League-seasons for Philadelphia Phillies (1963-1969), St. Louis Cardinals (1970), Los Angeles Dodgers (1971), Chicago White Sox (1972-1974), again Philadelphia Phillies (1975-1976) and Oakland Athletics (1977).
He played in 1,749 games and collected 1,848 basehits, including 351 homeruns.
Allen, who was known as Richie in his early seasons, batted in 1,119 runs and scored 1,099.
Dick Allen, who was nicknamed 'Crash' and 'The Wampum Walloper', was the National League Rookie of the Year in 1964 and was the American League Most Valuable Player in 1972.
He played in seven All-Star Games.
Allen's uniform-number 15 was retired by Philadelphia Phillies in 2020.
He was inducted into the Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame in 1993.
Exactly four years ago, on December 7, 2020, Dick Allen passed away at age 78.
His brothers Hank and Ron also played in the Major League.
Hank (who passed away on May 29 this year at age 83) played for Washington Senators, Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox in 1966-1973.
Ron, who will turn 82 later this month, briefly played for St. Louis Cardinals in 1972.
Dick and Hank were teammates when both played for Chicago White Sox in 1972-1973.
Dick Allen was first listed on the regular Hall of Fame-ballot in 1982 when Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson were elected.
Allen then received 3.7 percent.
He also got 3.7 percent of the votes the following year when Brooks Robinson and Juan Marichal were elected.
According to the current rules, players who receive less than five percent are dropped from following ballots.
Back then, the rules were different.
Allen was not on the ballot in 1984, but returned in 1985.
He would remain eligible through 1997 and received his highest percentage in 1996 (18.9%).
He was dropped from the ballot after his 15th and final year in 1997.
In 2014, Allen was on the ballot of what then was the Golden Era Committee.
He ended up one vote shy, as was Tony Oliva and no one was chosen.
In 2022, Allen was a candidate for the Golden Days Committee.
Four players were elected, Minnie Miņoso, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva.
Again, Allen ended up one vote short.
Dave Parker also was on the ballot for the regular election for the maximum period of fifteen years.
The first time was in 1997 when he received 17.5% when Phil Niekro was the lone player who was elected.
It also was Allen's final year and he received 16.7%.
Parker remained on the ballot through 2011.
He received his highest percentage in 1998 (24.5%).
In 2013, Parker was on the ballot of the Expansion Era Committee.
In 2017 and 2019, he was considered by the Modern Baseball Era Committee.
During all three elections, he didn't receive enough votes.
But now, powerhitters Dick Allen and Dave Parker were finally elected into the Hall of Fame.
(December 8)
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