Phillies Release Frank Thomas after Dust-Up with Rich Allen

July 4, 1965 - Frank Thomas, the 35-year-old utility-man who was released by the Phillies last night after his fight with teammate and All-Star third baseman Rich Allen during batting practice, feels he is a victim of circumstance.

Thomas said he regretted his part in the affair, in which he hit Allen on the shoulder with a bat, but that he regarded his being put on waivers by the Phillies because of the incident unfair.

Today, Thomas gave his version of what happened before the Phils’ 10-8 loss to Cincinnati at Connie Mack Stadium. Asked for his side of the fight, Allen, whom Thomas charged with throwing the first punch, would not admit anything took place.

“What fight?” was all Allen would say when questioned.

Thomas said the fracas began with needling, which has gone one between the two and among other members of the team all season.

“I’m one of the biggest agitators around, always have been,” said Thomas, “but I never try to hurt anybody. I do it to try to keep the club loose. Certain guys can dish it out, but can’t take it.

“When I went into the batting cage yesterday, Richie yelled from third base, ‘Do what you did last night.’”

As a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning Friday night, Thomas struck out.

“I missed a pitch, and he’s laughing at me. Then, I fouled off a bunt and then bunted down the third-base line. At that, he yelled, ‘That’s 21 hours too late.’”

Thomas said Allen began calling him “Lurch,” a nickname Rich hung on Thomas a while back after the Frankenstein-type character in the T.V. show, “The Addams Family.”

“He started calling me ‘Lurch,’ and we yelled back and forth, and that’s when I said, ‘You’re getting just like Cassius Clay or Muhammad Clay — always running off at the mouth.’

“Then he said something about coming down, and I yelled, ‘If you want me, I’ll be here.’

‘He came up to me and asked, ‘What did you call me?’

“So, I told him, and I said, ‘If I hurt your feelings, I’m sorry.’

“‘That don’t go with me,’ he said, and then he swung and hit me in the chest.

I was surprised. I had the bat in my hand, and I hit him on the left shoulder. It was a reflex action.”

At that point, Allen became enraged, was grabbed by five or six teammates, and was wrestled back near the permanent backstop behind home plate.

“After it happened, I went over to him — [manager Gene] Mauch had his arm around him — and I felt real bad because I could see he was hurt.

“I went up to him and said, ‘I’m awfully sorry, Richie. I want to apologize.’

“Then in the clubhouse, I went over and apologized again, and he said, ‘Get away from me.’

“Okay, if that’s the way you want it,’ I said.”

Thomas felt worse after the game, when Mauch told him the club was asking waivers on him.

“I told him, ‘I think you’re being unfair. We’re always agitating each other, and he hit me first.’

“‘You’re 35, and he’s 23,’ Gene said, and I asked what that had to do with it. I told Gene, ‘You’re always ready to fight back; you know that yourself.’

“When he said I shouldn’t have hit him with the bat, I said it was just a reaction. ‘If I hadn’t had a bat in my hands,’ I told him, ‘I would have gone after him with my fists.’

“But I’ve always liked Richie, and I’ve tried to help him. This was just one of those things. Mauch tells me one thing, then does another. I could never find out where I stood.”

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