: ''This is about the baseball player. For the musical project of Travis McCoy called Bernie Allen, see

Bernie Allen (band) Travis Lazarus "Travie" McCoy (born August 5, 1981) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is the co-founder and former lead vocalist of the rap rock band Gym Class Heroes, in addition to having a solo career. McCoy became involved w ...

.'' Bernard Keith Allen (born April 16, 1939) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

, Washington Senators,

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

, and

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

. At 6' 0" and 185 lbs, Allen was a second-baseman for most of his career; playing over 900 games at the position. By the 1971 season, he was splitting his time between second and third base.

College career

Allen played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Boilermakers A boilermaker is a tradesperson who fabricates steel, iron, or copper into boilers and other large containers intended to hold hot gas or liquid, as well as maintains and repairs boilers and boiler systems.Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Dep ...

, where he twice named Team MVP. A winner of six varsity letters, Allen was also a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

on the

Purdue Boilermakers football The Purdue Boilermakers football team represents Purdue University in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. Purdue plays its home games at Ross–Ade Stadium on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. ...

team, selected as ream MVP in 1960. He platooned at quarterback in 1959, leading the Boilermakers to a 5–2–2 record and six weeks in the Top 15. Earning the starting job in 1960, Allen led the Boilermakers to a record of 4–4–1 (2–4 Big Ten) and wins over No. 12 Notre Dame, No. 3

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, and No. 1

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, the consensus national champion at season's end. The Minnesota and Notre Dame victories were both on the road, while the win over Ohio State earned Allen ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

s Offensive back of the Week. Purdue spent five weeks in the Top 15 and finished the season at No. 19 in the AP Poll. Allen was selected for the Blue–Gray Game; throwing 3 touchdowns and led the Blue squad to a 35–7 victory over the Gray squad, quarterbacked by Fran Tarkenton. Allen was the leading passer for Purdue during the 1959 and 1960 seasons and was also the team leader in total offense. He was selected as an All-American shortstop in . Allen signed with the

and played 80 games for Class A Charlotte before being promoted to

. He spent the 1963 off-season as an assistant football coach under

Jack Mollenkopf Kenneth Webster "Jack" Mollenkopf (November 24, 1903 – December 4, 1975) was the head football coach at Purdue University from 1956 until 1969. Mollenkopf was also an assistant coach at Purdue from 1947 to 1955 under Stu Holcomb. Mollenkopf wa ...

, where he tutored a young

Bob Griese Robert Allen Griese (pronounced ; born February 3, 1945) is a former American football quarterback who earned All-American honors with the Purdue Boilermakers before being drafted in 1967 by the American Football League's Miami Dolphins. Gries ...

. In 1999, he was selected for induction in the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.

Major League career

On Opening Day, April 10, 1962, Allen made his debut for the Minnesota Twins at second base. He was put into a position vacated by

Billy Martin Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. (May 16, 1928 – December 25, 1989), commonly called "Billy", was an American Major League Baseball second baseman and manager who, in addition to leading other teams, was five times the manager of the New York Yan ...

a week earlier. Allen had one hit, a triple, in four at-bats on opening day. His rookie performance led to a selection to the 1962 Topps All-Star Rookie Roster and finished third in

American League Rookie of the Year In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is given annually to two outstanding rookie players, one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL), as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The aw ...

voting, behind

Tom Tresh Thomas Michael Tresh (September 20, 1938 – October 15, 2008) was a professional baseball infielder and outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (–) and Detroit Tigers (). Tresh was a switch-hitter and thre ...

and

Buck Rodgers Robert Leroy "Buck" Rodgers (born August 16, 1938) is a former catcher, manager and coach in Major League Baseball. He managed three major league teams: the Milwaukee Brewers (1980–1982), Montreal Expos (1985–1991) and California Angels ( ...

. Allen played five seasons for the Twins and was traded to the Washington Senators with pitcher

Camilo Pascual Camilo Alberto Pascual Lus (born January 20, 1934) is a Cuban former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During an 18-year baseball career (1954–71), he played for the original modern Washington Senators franchise (which became the Mi ...

for pitcher

Ron Kline Ronald Lee Kline (March 9, 1932 – June 22, 2002) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher over parts of seventeen seasons (1952, 1955–1970) with the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Lou ...

. After five seasons with the Senators which moved to the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchore ...

to become the Texas Rangers, he was dealt to the

for

Terry Ley Terrence Richard Ley (born 21 February 1947, Portland, Oregon) is a retired baseball pitcher who began his career in the season for the New York Yankees. He was a student of University of Oregon before he was drafted in the 3rd round of the Janu ...

and Gary Jones at the

Winter Meetings Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...

on December 2, 1971.Durso, Joseph. "White Sox Add Bahnsen, Ship McKinney to Yanks," ''The New York Times'', Friday, December 3, 1971.
Retrieved December 4, 2021 Allen played for New York in 1972, backing up second and third base. He played 17 games for the Yankees in 1973 before being purchased by Montreal. The Expos released him two months later.

References

External links

Bernie Allen
at SABR (Baseball BioProject)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Bernie 1939 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American football quarterbacks Baseball players from Ohio Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Denver Bears players Major League Baseball second basemen Minnesota Twins players Montreal Expos players New York Yankees players People from Carmel, Indiana People from East Liverpool, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Purdue Boilermakers baseball players Purdue Boilermakers football players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players