CHAMPAIGN, IL (Chambana Today) — For more than two decades, a Champaign physician has spent his spare time championing the legacy of one of baseball’s most controversial and talented hitters. Now, that effort has helped land former Chicago White Sox slugger Dick Allen in the National Baseball Hall of Fame — and inspired a documentary film about his life.
Dr. David Fletcher, a physician with SafeWorks Illinois in Champaign, began advocating for Allen’s Hall of Fame induction years ago after becoming convinced the star’s career had been overlooked despite his dominant offensive production in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Allen, the 1972 American League Most Valuable Player with the White Sox, was widely regarded as one of the era’s most powerful hitters but was never elected during the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voting period. Fletcher said a combination of misunderstandings, racial tensions and Allen’s complicated relationship with sportswriters contributed to his exclusion.
“I worked relentlessly to get my favorite baseball player of all time into the Hall of Fame,” Fletcher said.
The effort became personal. Fletcher built relationships with Allen and his family and ultimately wrote a book, Chili Dog MVP, about Allen’s historic 1972 season in Chicago and the broader social and political climate of the time. The book, co-written with journalist John Owens, explored not only Allen’s performance on the field but also the racial tensions he faced throughout his career.
Allen died in 2020 at age 78, never seeing his Hall of Fame induction. But Fletcher continued advocating on his behalf.
In 2024, Allen was finally elected by the Hall of Fame’s veterans committee. Fletcher was with the family when the announcement was made in Dallas.
“It was a thrill for me to have my favorite ballplayer of all time get the nod,” Fletcher said.
The project has since expanded into a documentary series titled My Father, Dick Allen, which follows the long campaign to secure Allen’s place in Cooperstown and examines his life from his childhood in Pennsylvania to his playing days in Philadelphia and Chicago.
The film includes interviews with former players such as Goose Gossage, Dusty Baker and Ferguson Jenkins, as well as Allen’s family members. Fletcher and the film crew have traveled across the country to capture interviews and historical locations connected to Allen’s story.
The documentary also explores Allen’s experience integrating minor league baseball in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1963, where he endured intense racism during the civil rights era.
Fletcher said those moments reveal how Allen’s career reflected broader struggles in American society.
“This is a story about America,” he said. “It’s about resilience, forgiveness and overcoming racial injustice.”
The project also carries a local connection. Allen’s nephew, Jim Moore, lives in Champaign and has been involved in sharing family stories and memories that appear in the film.
Producers have previewed portions of the documentary at film festivals and special events around the country. The full five-part docuseries is scheduled to premiere May 9 at SeriesFest in Denver, where filmmakers hope to secure a distribution deal with a major streaming platform.
Fletcher also hopes to bring a screening to Champaign, possibly at the Virginia Theatre, to highlight the community’s connection to the story.
For Fletcher, the decades-long journey has been about more than baseball.
“It’s been a mission,” he said. “And now that he’s in the Hall of Fame, it feels like the job finally got done.”
