I learned today a fight with a “Frank Thomas” might be the reason Dick Allen never made the hall. Considering the history of Sox MVPs, that’s nuts.
[50 years on, the Dick Allen-Frank Thomas fight still resonates](https://www.inquirer.com/philly/sports/phillies/311524701.html)
>What if he’d taken better care of those awesome physical gifts? What if he’d played beyond 35? What if he’d been able to tame his rebellious spirit? And, heaviest of all, what if he’d never fought with Frank Thomas?
>If not for that batting-cage scuffle 50 years ago today – July 3, 1965 – there might be no “what ifs”. Allen might have played out his career peacefully and historically in Philadelphia and ended up a Hall of Famer, an honor he missed by a single Golden Era Committee vote in December. (2014)
>Mike Tollin, a Philadelphia-born filmmaker, has been working on an Allen documentary for years. Between 2009 and 2011, he interviewed players and sportswriters about the Thomas fight, interviews the Inquirer has obtained. While they don’t alter the incident’s basic facts, they do provide more detail. Allen, a 23-year-old in his second Phillies season, was leading the league that night with a .341 average and had been named an all-star starter. His 40-35 Phillies were 41/2 games out of first, 21/2 behind second-place Cincinnati. On that holiday eve, 25,112 fans packed Connie Mack Stadium. Neither they nor the half-dozen newspaper writers, then in manager Gene Mauch’s office, would see what happened near the Phillies batting cage at about 5:30 p.m. Thomas, nicknamed “Donkey” or “Lurch”, the latter a reference to “The Addams Family” butler, was a power-hitting first baseman. He was also a first-class needler. The late Daily News columnist Stan Hochman, then the Phillies beat writer, told Tollin that Thomas enjoyed his reputation. “He said, ‘I was always a big needler and I like to needle the guys who can’t take it,’ ” Hochman recalled. “And I said, ‘Was he [Allen] one of the guys that couldn’t take it?’ And he said yeah.” According to another deceased Daily News writer, Bill Conlin, the fight had its origins a week earlier when, exiting their West Coast hotel rooms, Thomas jokingly asked Allen, “Hey, boy, can you carry my bags to the lobby?” In a 4-3 Phillies victory the night before the fight, Thomas failed to get down a crucial bunt. During BP on July 3, when he laid down a mandatory bunt, either Allen or Johnny Callison shouted, “Twenty-four hours too late, Lurch!” Thomas responded with a comment aimed at Allen. He claims he said, “You’re running your mouth like Cassius Clay,” but others insist he said either “Muhammad Clay” or “Malcolm X”. Further words were exchanged. Thomas contends Allen sucker-punched him, a charge the latter denies. Thomas swung his bat, striking Allen in the right shoulder. Separating the two, shortstop Ruben Amaro was hit with a stray punch.
Basically the fight may have hurt Allen’s reputation, as well as soured his Phillies career.