ANAHEIM – They were bonded by baseball, horse racing and, more than anything else, family. Hank Allen and Alex Bregman were perhaps an unlikely friendship, but a friendship nonetheless. So when Bregman got a call last week that Allen had passed away, the news hit him hard. "Pretty sad day," he said. Allen, who played seven years in the big leagues and is the brother of fellow Major League players Ron Allen and the late Dick Allen, passed away May 29 at 83 years old. While Dick was a seven-time All-Star and 1972 American League Most Valuable Player, Hank Allen carved his own path later in his career as a revered scout. He worked for the Astros, who drafted Bregman No. 2 overall out of LSU in 2015, for several years. Bregman said he had spoken to Allen a handful of times in the last year. "But never enough, you know?" he said. "Never as much as you'd like to." |
Allen made a huge impact on the Bregman family, dating back to Alex's grandfather, Stan, who was general counsel for the Washington Senators and negotiated the sale of the team, which moved to Minneapolis and became the Twins. Allen played for the Senators from 1966-70, and Stan and Hank Allen were extremely close. In addition to baseball, they loved horse racing. In fact, Hank and Dick named a horse "Barrister Bregman" after Stan Bregman and helped Hank become the first African-American trainer in 78 years to saddle a horse in the 1989 Kentucky Derby. Northern Wolf finished sixth behind winner Sunday Silence. Bregman, whose father Sam is the former chair of the New Mexico Racing Commission, which governs the horse racing in the state, grew to love the sport, as well. Bregman Family Racing now owns 10 racehorses. "[Hank] always followed all of our horses and would always call me every time one of them entered [a race]," Bregman said. "He's just an outstanding man and human being." |
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Stan Bregman also negotiated the hiring of Hall of Famer Ted Williams as the manager for a new Senators expansion team. Alex's father, Sam, used to sit on Williams' lap in the clubhouse. It was Stan Bregman who convinced Allen to fly to Albuquerque, N.M., to check out Bregman's talents when he was 12 or 13 years old. "My dad actually called him before my senior year and said, 'Hank, you've got to do us a favor and draft him in like the 40th round, just make sure you make him a draft pick. That would be awesome,'" Bregman said. "Hank called him back and said, 'I don't think I'm going to have to do that, but we'll see what happens.' Sure enough, three years after that, I got drafted by the Astros, who he's a scout for. It was pretty cool." Even cooler? A year after Houston won the 2017 World Series, Bregman presented Allen with his World Series ring -- the first one Allen had ever won -- when the Astros were in Baltimore the following year. "He was pretty fired up," Bregman said. While searching for words to describe Hank Allen, Bregman paused and spoke softly of a friend gone too soon. "Just a great, great man," he said. |
ALL-STAR GAME VOTING OPENS |
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Kyle Tucker, Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez headline the Astros players who are appearing on the 2024 MLB All-Star Ballot presented by BuildSubmarines.com, which launched Wednesday, opening Phase 1 of this year's All-Star voting. Tucker's .979 OPS was fourth in Major League Baseball when he was placed on the injured list Friday with a shin contusion. The right fielder was tied for second in the Major Leagues in homers (19), ranked second in the AL in walks (46), third in slugging (.584) and was the only qualifying player in the AL with more walks than strikeouts. Altuve, an eight-time All-Star at second base, is having another strong season, slashing .286/.339/.436 with nine homers and 21 RBIs through his first 63 games, while Alvarez -- a two-time All-Star -- was hitting .288/.361/.490 with 12 homers and 31 RBIs through 63 games and is on the ballot at DH. Meanwhile, shortstop Jeremy Peña (.303/.336/.414) was making a push for his first All-Star Game nod. Other Astros on the ballot are Jon Singleton at first, Alex Bregman at third, Mauricio Dubón and Jake Meyers in the outfield and Yainer Diaz at catcher. |
During Phase 1, fans around the world can choose their starters until 11 a.m. CT on Thursday, June 27. You can vote up to five times per 24-hour period, exclusively at MLB.com, on all 30 MLB club sites and on the MLB app. The top two vote-getters at each position (and the top six outfielders) in each league will be revealed on MLB Network at 5 p.m. CT on Thursday, June 27. The leading vote-getter in each league will receive an automatic spot in their team's starting lineup while the other top vote-getters will advance to Phase 2 of voting. If an outfielder is a league's leading vote-getter, only the next four outfield finalists will move on to Phase 2 to determine who starts at the two remaining spots. Phase 2 will begin at 11 a.m. CT on June 30, and continue until 11 a.m. CT on July 3. During this four-day window, fans can vote only once per 24-hour period on MLB platforms for whom they want to see in the Midsummer Classic. Voting totals from Phase 1 don't carry over. The winners at each position (including three outfielders in each league) will be revealed on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT on July 3. The pitchers and reserves for both squads -- totaling 23 players for each side -- will be determined via "Player Ballot" choices and selections made by the Commissioner's Office. The complete All-Star rosters will be announced at 4:30 p.m. CT on ESPN on July 7. |
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