The response to yesterday’s post on smoking ballerinas got us thinking about other examples of folks who make their livings with their bodies, yet continue to puff away. And that train of thought inevitably led us to Phillies great Dick Allen, whose between-innings habit would never fly today. Then again, it’s unclear to us whether smoking is more harmful than the ingestion of massive quantities of human growth hormone.
Jordan // Jun 12, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Or the Tour de France. I can’t imagine their trainers letting them get away with the kind of stuff that Tour riders did in the 1920s.
CapVandal // Jun 13, 2009 at 3:09 am
I haven’t thought about Dick Allen in years. I enjoyed reading the wikipedia article. I can remember when he was clearly the best offensive player in the game. I used to follow the Tigers and remember when he was with Chicago.
I suppose I no longer care much who gets in the Hall of Fame. But I always thought that a dominant player for maybe 5 years+ was a more important than lifetime cumulative stats.
In his big season with the White Sox he was obviously the best hitter in the game.
I wasn’t aware that he lit up between every inning, but why not.
Brendan I. Koerner // Jun 13, 2009 at 10:52 am
@CapVandal: Seems like you’re hardly the only person out there who believes the great Dick Allen is worthy of Cooperstown:
http://dickallenhof.blogspot.com/
No question in my mind he’s a lot better than some other folks who’ve made the cut. But enshrinement gets harder with each passing year, esp. once a player’s case gets handed over to the Veterans Committee. But if Bill Mazeroski can get in…