Elephant Rumblings: HOF Inductees Allen and Parker

MLB News Roundup

Happy Thursday A’s Fans!

Early last week, the National Baseball Hall of Fame Classic Baseball Era Committee selected two former Athletics to be enshrined in the 2025 class of inductees. Dick Allen and Dave Parker earned election on Sunday in voting from the Classic Baseball Era Committee. The announcement was made at the opening of the Winter Meetings in Dallas.

The classic baseball era committee focuses on players who contributed to the game prior to 1980, including Negro Leagues and pre-Negro Leagues stars. These players did not make the cut when the traditional balloting took place after their careers were over.

This is not breaking news by any means, but it got me thinking. When do A’s fans call a player “our own”? Experts will debate for countless hours whether these two bigger than life players/personalities belong in the HOF. But did either leave a real footprint in A’s history?

Dick Allen played in the majors from 1963-1977. His accolades are more than impressive and include the 1964 Rookie of the Year Award, 1972 MVP Award and seven All-star appearances. Swinging a 42-ounce bat, he slugged more than 350 homers and drove in more than 1,100 RBI’s with a career batting average of .292. He finished his career with the A’s in 1977 at 35-years-old, with fifty-four games and two hundred plate appearances. Dick Allen made his mark on baseball, but did he leave an impression on the Oakland A’s franchise?

Dave Parker reached his star status mostly during his time with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He broke in with the Bucs in 1973, and in his first full season (1975) finished third in the NL MVP vote. Three years later in 1978 he won his only MVP award. He played in seven all-star games, won three Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Slugger Awards. Among his other honors, Parker also won two home run derbies. Toward the end of his career, 1988 & 1989 he played full seasons with Oakland Athletics. Unlike Allen, he contributed solid seasons, even finishing just outside of the top ten in MVP voting in 1989 when he played in 144 of 162 games.

It’s clear that neither ballplayer will enter the Hall next summer donning an Athletics uniform, but just how much pride will we feel for each of these two on their induction day?

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