Leland Gaither Allen (January 12, 1915 – May 20, 1969) was an Americansportswriter andhistorian on the subject ofbaseball. He was known for an accessible writing style that made history more interesting, typically focusing on the people in the stories as much as the events.
A native ofCincinnati, Ohio, Allen was the son ofU.S. RepresentativeAlfred Gaither Allen. After attendingKenyon College as a psychology major, spending a semester at theColumbia University School of Journalism, and working for theCincinnati Reds as a publicity director and traveling secretary, he began his writing career with theCincinnati Enquirer, and wrote the Cincinnati entry in thePutnam Publishing series on theMajor League Baseball teams.
He authored other books, including histories of theNational League andAmerican League, theWorld Series, and a volume about theGiants-Dodgers rivalry. He was also a frequent contributor toThe Sporting News, including articles to their annual publications as well as a weekly column called "Cooperstown Corner". In the early 1940s Allen assistedWaite Hoyt onCincinnati Reds radio broadcasts.
From 1959 until his death, he was the curator at theBaseball Hall of Fame, succeedingErnest Lanigan. In that capacity, and with his substantial collection of biographical information on ballplayers (continuing Lanigan's work), he had a great deal of input to the first edition of the famous MacMillanBaseball Encyclopedia which was published in the same year he died.[1]
Although Allen had been inspired as a youth by his Hall of Fame predecessor'sBaseball Cyclopedia, he was not the "figger filbert" that Lanigan was. However, they did share a common interest in the personal stories of the ballplayers. This quote from Allen's SABR profile highlights their differences and similarities. The first sentence is polar opposite to Lanigan's philosophy, the remainder is right in line with Lanigan's work: "I care very little for statistics as such. My concern is the players. Who are these men? What are they? What problems have they faced? Where are they now?"[2]
In addition to biographies, Allen was also a pioneer in gathering information aboutbaseball parks, and published one of the first comprehensive lists of major league ballparks and their locations, in the 1961 edition of one ofThe Sporting News publications.
TheCincinnati chapter of theSociety of American Baseball Research is named in honor of Allen.[3]
He died of a heart attack inSyracuse, New York while on a road trip researching a subject for a book.
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