The state of Alabama has produced many Major League baseball legends. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, and Ozzie Smith all came from the Mobile area. Early Wynn, whom none other than Boston great Ted Williams called “the toughest pitcher I ever faced,” was born in Hartford, Alabama. The 2023 American League Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson is from Selma. These are some of the most recognized players from their respective eras. But 110 years ago, another Alabama native made history on the baseball diamond.
Frank Leon Allen was born in Newbern, Hale County, in 1888 to Bryant Leon Allen and Harriett Saunders Allen. Bryant was a prominent farmer, cattleman, and dairyman. Frank played ball at Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) in Memphis Tennessee. Allen began his professional baseball career with the Mobile Sea Gulls (later known as the Bay Bears and now the Rocket City Trash Pandas) of the Southern Association in 1909. A pitcher, Allen finished the year with one win and four losses in five appearances. That lackluster rookie effort did not deter him from reporting to spring training in 1910. However, his determination did not prevent the Sea Gulls from releasing him before the season began due to ‘wildness,’ a term that meant lack of pitch control.
Allen was back in 1911 for another try with the team. This time the Sea Gulls put him in the starting rotation, and he went 14-12 in 34 appearances. His performance earned the attention of major league scouts, and at season’s end he was sold to the Brooklyn Dodgers of the National League. Allen made his major league debut on April 24th, 1912, in Brooklyn’s Washington Park against the Boston Braves. He gave up three runs in the top of the 1st inning and was taken out in the 4th by the manager. He didn’t pitch again for nearly a month. He got another chance against the Cubs in late May. He walked five and gave up three hits and a run in three innings. Allen got some redemption in the 8th inning when he knocked a solo home run to bring the Dodgers within a run. It was the first of two home runs the pitcher would hit in his professional career.
Allen pitched erratically for the rest of the season. He shut-out the Cubs later and brought his ERA down to an impressive 2.65, but he finished the season with a lessthan- stellar 3-9 record and a 3.63 ERA. It was more of the same in 1913 and 14. Allen maintained an average to above-average ERA most of the time, but he lacked run support from his team’s offense. He would have had a far-better win/loss record if his teammates could have put the bat on the ball more often.
1914 was the first year of a new baseball league. The Federal League, composed of eight teams, most located in the Midwest, sought to establish itself as a new major league baseball market. Several team owners had tried and failed to purchase teams in the American and National leagues and now offered big-money contracts to the players of those teams. The Federal contracts were often more lucrative than those offered by the two established baseball leagues, and many players made the jump to the Federal League. Allen was one of them. He signed with the Pittsburgh Rebels two days after the end of the Dodgers season. The Brooklyn press described Allen as “one of the biggest disappointments of the season” and implied that his negotiations with the Federal League may have accounted “for some of his poor pitching while drawing salary from Ebbets.”
Allen found his footing in 1915 with the Pittsburgh Rebels. He shutout the Kansas City Packers 8-0 on Opening Day and won his next five games. He made history on April 24th when he threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis Terriers. This was the first no-hitter recorded in the nascent Federal League, and Allen almost blew it in the 1st inning. He walked the bases loaded before he got control of that ‘wildness.’ Then he retired 21 of the next 22 batters and notched the no-hitter. It would be one of five total no-hitters that were pitched during the two-year existence of the Federal League. That game against the Terriers was the highwater mark of the Newbern native’s baseball career.
The upstart Federal League went out of business after the 1915 season. Many of the players who had made the jump to the league had to fight blacklisting efforts from the American and National leagues in order to return to professional baseball. Even though Ed Gwinner, president of the Rebels, wrote to Cincinnati Reds owner Garry Herrmann that Allen “was the best pitcher in the Federal League” Allen still had trouble getting a contract. He was finally signed by the Boston Braves, and he did well for them in 1916 even though he was suffering from injuries by that point. He finished the year with an 8-2 record and an impressive 2.07 ERA. Allen was back on the mound for the Braves in 1917, but he struggled for a 3-10 record and a 3.94 ERA.
At just 29 years-old, Allen’s baseball career was over. He announced his retirement in December of 1917, saying he intended to return to the family farm in Newbern. He had recently married Janie Bradshaw Rogers. Back home, Allen became the first athletic director and coach at Southern Military Academy in Greensboro. He stayed involved in baseball and was a player-manager of a semiprofessional Selma baseball team in the early 20’s. In 1928 Allen, then 39 years old, pitched for the Gadsden Eagles of the Class D Georgia- Alabama League. Though he was much older than his competition, Allen was still able to put up an impressive 12-6 record along with a 2.46 ERA.
Frank Allen died on July 30, 1933, of an apparent heart attack. He was only 44 years old. His widow, Jane Allen, died in 1985 at the age of 91. The two are buried side-by-side in the Newbern cemetery.
