Legendary baseball player Dick Allen to be enshrined in MLB Hall of Fame
LAWRENCE COUNTY. PEOPLE MAY KNOW ALLEN AS AN INCREDIBLE BASEBALL PLAYER AND EVEN SOME AS AN INCREDIBLE BASKETBALL PLAYER. BUT FOR PEOPLE HERE IN WAMPUM, THEY KNOW ALLEN AS JUST ANOTHER GUY. HE WOULD LEAVE, BUT HE WOULD COME BACK AS IF HE NEVER LEFT. RICHIE. IT WAS A HOMETOWN HERO TO ALL OF US. WHETHER YOU KNEW HIM AS RICHIE, DICK OR SLEEPY. THE PEOPLE IN AND AROUND WAMPUM KNEW RICHARD ALLEN AS A MAN WHO ALWAYS STAYED TRUE TO HIMSELF. HE WAS AN EVERYDAY GUY. HE HE ENJOYED DOING EVERYDAY THINGS. ALLEN’S HISTORIC 15 YEAR CAREER HAD THE HALL OF FAMER PLAYING AMERICA’S PASTIME AROUND THE COUNTRY, BUT ALL ROADS LEAD BACK TO WAMPUM. HE WAS A REAL LOW KEY GUY AND CAME TO TOWN, TALKED TO PEOPLE, MADE EVERYBODY LAUGH. AFTER HIS PLAYING DAYS, PEOPLE WOULD OFTEN SEE ALLEN DRIVING THROUGH THE STREETS OF WAMPUM LIKE NO TIME HAS PASSED. IRISH BETTY SAYS SHE WOULD RUN INTO ALLEN AT THE POST OFFICE. EVERYBODY KIND OF SEEMED TO GATHER AT THE POST OFFICE, AND HE WAS MOST FRIENDLY. DIDN’T FIGURE HE KNEW WHO I WAS, BUT HE CALLED ME MRS. SEARS BECAUSE I WORKED AT SEARS, AND HE WOULD COME IN SEARS, AND WE STOOD THERE LIKE WE WERE BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. ROB WILSON BECAME FRIENDS WITH ALLEN OVER THE LAST 30 YEARS. HE DIDN’T NEED TO BE IN THE SPOTLIGHT OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. ALTHOUGH, YOU KNOW, I’M SURE THAT HE ENJOYED IT, BUT HE ENJOYED JUST BEING ONE OF THE GUYS. AND EVEN IF HE WAS THE BIGGEST STAR IN THAT ROOM, WILSON SAYS ALLEN WOULDN’T ACT LIKE IT. BUT THE ONE THING RICHIE ALWAYS DID, HE WOULD MAKE YOU, WHOEVER CAME IN, FEEL IMPORTANT. HE NEVER LORDED ON HIMSELF. WILSON AND ALLEN WERE BORN THE SAME DAY, TEN YEARS APART. BUT IF YOU WOULD ASK ALLEN NEXT THING OUT OF HIS MOUTH WAS, WELL, WE’RE MORE FAMILY BECAUSE WE’RE TWINS. AND HE CALLED ME TWIN EVER SINCE I WENT TO THEIR FAMILY REUNION. THE FIRST TIME I EVER MET HAROLD OR RON RICHIE INTRODUCED ME AS HIS TWIN. JUST YOUR EVERYDAY GUY. IMMORTALIZED IN BASEBALL HISTORY. I’M JUST SO PROUD TO KNOW HIM. AND I KNOW I’LL BE SHEDDING TEARS IN COOPERSTOWN BECAUSE I’M DOING IT HERE. BUT JUST EXTREMELY PROUD OF HIM. I MEAN, MEANS THE WORLD TO ME. I WILL BE OFFICIALLY INDUCTED INTO THE MLB HALL OF FAME ON JULY 27TH, BUT FOR NOW
Legendary baseball player Dick Allen to be enshrined in MLB Hall of Fame
Updated: 7:12 PM EDT Jul 26, 2025
Wampum-area native Richard “Dick” Allen will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, July 27. The infielder played for five teams across 15 seasons.Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 spoke with family, friends and community members to learn more about the “Wampum Walloper” and the mark Allen made on people around him.Part 1: Dick Allen the manWe take a closer look at the person Allen was. Close friends and community members look back on Allen’s time in Wampum and how he never strayed from the person he was.Part 2: Dick Allen’s former teammates remember high school championship days in PennsylvaniaPart 3: Dick Allen mural honors Hall of Famer in his Pennsylvania hometownIn the heart of Wampum, Lawrence County, longtime muralist Ernel Martinez is working to bring the story of the legendary Dick Allen to life. Part 4: Remembering Dick Allen as a father: A sit-down with his son Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reporter Carlos Flores sat down with the man who called Dick Allen dad and what it means to have his father be honored into the Hall of Fame.
WAMPUM, Pa. —
Wampum-area native Richard “Dick” Allen will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, July 27. The infielder played for five teams across 15 seasons.
Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 spoke with family, friends and community members to learn more about the “Wampum Walloper” and the mark Allen made on people around him.
Part 1: Dick Allen the man
We take a closer look at the person Allen was. Close friends and community members look back on Allen’s time in Wampum and how he never strayed from the person he was.
Part 2: Dick Allen’s former teammates remember high school championship days in Pennsylvania
Part 3: Dick Allen mural honors Hall of Famer in his Pennsylvania hometown
In the heart of Wampum, Lawrence County, longtime muralist Ernel Martinez is working to bring the story of the legendary Dick Allen to life.
Part 4: Remembering Dick Allen as a father: A sit-down with his son
Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 reporter Carlos Flores sat down with the man who called Dick Allen dad and what it means to have his father be honored into the Hall of Fame.