Buried Treasure: Rich Allen And The Ebonistics - Echo's of November (1968)
That same year, after The Beatles blew up all around America and the rest of
the world, The Phillies were making what was then an extremely rare run for a
National League pennant that seemed inevitable until September when they blew
a 6 1/2 game lead with only twelve to play. They lost ten games in a row
before winning the last two of the season. Sadly, by that time it was too
late. Unfortunately, there are still fans who haven't gotten over it.
This team's roster included future Kentucky Senator and Hall-of-Famer, Jim
Bunning as its star pitcher. Other prominent teammates were lefty Chris Short
who won twenty games, all-star hero Johnny Callison, Tony Taylor, Bobby Wine,
Wes Covington, Clay Dalrymple, Tony Gonzalez, and National League Rookie of
the Year Dick Allen, who was dubbed Richie by the team's publicists -
apparently to soften his image. Allen hated it and said the name made him
sound like he was ten years old.
Allen died December 7th at age 78 in his hometown of Wampum, PA so now it's
likely that he'll be voted into the Hall of Fame in the near future. He should
have been inducted decades ago. It was wrong to make him wait, but sometimes
death is a good career move.
It turns out that Allen had another talent: music. In 1968, he was the lead
singer for a local doo wop group, The Ebonistics. They made a record, "Echo's
of November," that was released on a local Philadelphia label, Groovey Grooves
Records. The song wasn't a big hit but it proved Allen could sing. Even though
the third baseman was a big man he possessed a high tenor voice.
The Ebonistics also performed at a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer Allen's gig won over the crowd.
"They cheered him as warmly as they ever cheered him for a game-winning
home run."
There weren't many details about the Phillies of the 1960's that I didn't
know, but Allen's brief singing career was one of them. I just learned about
it the day after he passed away.
One of my baseball heroes------truly missed----pleasantly surprised on his singing ability!
ReplyDeleteBeing from Philly, I will never forget Dick (Richie) Allen and the 64 Phillies and his song "Echo's of November" in 1968.... they played it quite often in Philly. Dick will sure be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, sad it happened earlier.
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