2 Phillies’ heroes and a villain

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Even if you were the local boy from North Philly who made good, you were not immune from the boobirds. But how did left fielder Del Ennis do in ’50? He hit .311 with 31 home runs and 126 RBIs.

Wearing number 14 before Jim Bunning and Pete Rose, Ennis bashed over 20 homers nine times and drove in 100 runs or more during seven summers. But he had no shortage of critics.

According to Johnny Goodtimes of Philly Sports History, the faithful described Ennis as a clumsy outfielder, stated he didn’t hustle and claimed he wasn’t a clutch hitter. But they also complained about too many strikeouts despite a career high of 65 as a rookie and in ’52.

From the 1964 squad, Dick Allen was in a love-hate relationship with the fans. And when he got into a fight with Frank J. Thomas in 1965 during batting practice, some locals voiced a racial component.

In 1969, his last season here, he scrawled boo in the first base dirt. However, his former teammates claimed he had been a misunderstood star dealing with overblown concerns.

With his bat doing the talking, Allen averaged over .300 seven times, drove in 100 runs or more during three seasons, and launched over 20 bombs in 10 of his first 11 campaigns. But the numbers for his career year in 1966 were .317, 40 long balls and 110 RBIs.