"I never met the man, never shook his hand," Allen said, when asked about James' harsh commentary. "A statistics guy, huh? Well, I think statistics might be the cancer in baseball.
"Stats alone don't tell the truth about a ballplayer. Tony Taylor would come back to the dugout bleeding, his uniform dirty and torn. He'd stolen three bases, scored two runs, but in the box score he might have one hit, two walks."
Allen leads the list alphabetically, among other ways. The other candidates are Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Al Oliver, Vada Pinson, Ron Santo, Luis Tiant, Joe Torre, Maury Wills. All rejected by the writers over a 15-year period.
Living Hall of Famers do the voting this time. A player needs 75 percent of the votes cast to get in. The results will be announced on Monday.
"It's just an honor to be included in that list," Allen said warily. "There are some very good ballplayers on that list. The thing is, I don't know what the criteria is."
Between now and Monday, Allen may get carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists trying to keep a lid on his hopes and dreams. He is in his mid-60s now, working with the Phillies in community relations, mellowed by time, weathered by sadness, feeling euphoric about the team winning the World Series.
"I thought they played fundamentally sound baseball, which is what they needed to do," he says proudly. "Jimmy Rollins set the table. It became 'As Rollins goes, we go.' Jimmy and Chase Utley got on and Ryan Howard delivered.
"The kids improved under Charlie [MAnuel]. He seems easy-going. I know I could have played for someone like that."
