Frank LaPorte (1888)
Babe Ruth (1895)
Glenn Wright (1901)
Dale Long (1926)
Smoky Burgess (1927)
Augie Garrido (1939)
Richie Zisk (1949)
Bob Wickman (1969)
Chad Allen (1975)
Outfielder Chad Allen played for Minnesota around the turn of the century. Born in Dallas, he went to high school in Duncanville, Texas, and then attended Texas A & M. He was drafted by the Twins in the fourth round in 1996. He played for the 1996 Olympic team, so his professional career didn't really get started until 1997. He had a solid year in Class A in 1997, followed by an undistinguished year at AA in 1998. Despite that, he won the starting left fielder job for the Twins in spring training in 1999. He did okay, hitting .277 with ten homers, although his OBP was only .330. In 2000 he lost the starting left field job to Jacque Jones and was back in the minors, although he came up to Minnesota for the month of June. He had a fine year at AAA, hitting .311 in Salt Lake. Allen was with the Twins for most of 2001 as a reserve outfielder/designated hitter and was not awful, but not all that good, either. He became a free agent after that season and signed with Baltimore for 2002, but was released in mid-April. He signed with Cleveland a month later and had another good year at AAA, but was again released after the season. Allen moved on to Florida for 2003, to Texas for 2004 and part of 2005, to St. Louis for the end of 2005, and to Kansas City for 2006 before his playing career ended. He made brief appearances in the majors for the Marlins and the Rangers. As a Twin, Chad Allen hit .275/.332/.401 in just over seven hundred at-bats. He was named in the Mitchell Report as someone who had used performance enhancing drugs and provided the commission with information on internet drug mills. No further information about Chad Allen's life after baseball was readily available.
The Sultan of Swat. Now that's a nickname.
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It looks like he's got a
chipchad on his shoulder.My favorite memory of Chad Allen was the time he hit a little-league home run (I think it may have been against Oakland). He hit a ground ball to first base and beat the throw to the pitcher. Everyone started walking back to their positions and no one was paying attention to him, so he lit out for second. The pitcher was startled and threw the ball into left-center field. By the time they tracked it down, Allen had circled the bases.
As long as Chad Allen's name gets mentioned, I'll always remember his last play in a Twins uniform.
Twins in Cleveland, 8/14/01, Bottom 11th, 7-7 score:
The Indians ultimately won the game anyway, but the play sticks with me because he showed so much heart there. He really did go down in a heap, obviously in excrutiating pain, and yet he had the presence of mind and the fortitude to get up and after the ball so Lofton wouldn't circle the bases. People talk about "gritty" ballplayers all the time, but I can't recall any play in a baseball game more gritty than that one.
That trumps a stupid bloody sock every day of the week.
Still think this is the benchmark.
(It was Gibson's only at-bat of the '88 WS.)
I remember once a pitcher for the Cardinals, Daryl Kyle I believe, took a line drive off the face at Wrigley. It had enough force to knock him on his ass. He crawled to the ball and flipped it to first for the out with blood already streaming down his face. He had to leave the game for stitches, and a concussion too I think.
That was one of the great events in WS history, no doubt. Baseball's own Willis Reed moment. But I'd guess that Gibson was taking painkillers to help him get out there that night, and once he hit the ball he could take his time getting around the bases.
Btw, Chad Allen tore his ACL on that play in Cleveland. He testified in the Mitchell Report that the knee still felt weak two years later, so he contacted Kirk Radomski about steroids after the 2003 season, because he'd been told that it could help him build strength in his knee and leg again. He claimed he started taking Winstrol in October 2003, and stopped after a couple months because, in part, he was afraid of failing a drug test. (Remember, 2004 was the first year that failed tests were publicized and resulted in suspension.) As far as we know, Allen didn't take steroids while he played for the Twins.
Funny how he didn't go to, like, you know, a doctor or something for his steroids. It's not like he didn't have a medical reason or anything.
Does baseball allow steroid use if prescribed by a doctor?
I'm not sure, but that's how normal people legally use steroids.
Right, but if you're an athlete who wants to keep it secret because steroids are banned by your sport, regardless of the reason for using them, would you go see a doctor and pick up your drugs at Walgreens?