Leland Gaither Allen (January 12, 1915 – May 20, 1969) was an American sportswriter and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

on the subject of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. 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 of

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

, Allen was the son of U.S. Representative Alfred Gaither Allen. After attending

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is s ...

as a psychology major, spending a semester at the Columbia University School of Journalism, and working for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

as a publicity director and traveling secretary, he began his writing career with the '' Cincinnati Enquirer'', and wrote the Cincinnati entry in the Putnam Publishing series on the

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 (A ...

teams. He authored other books, including histories of the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

and

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league b ...

, the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

, and a volume about the Giants-Dodgers rivalry. He was also a frequent contributor to ''

The Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'', including articles to their annual publications as well as a weekly column called "Cooperstown Corner". In the early 1940s Allen assisted

Waite Hoyt Waite Charles Hoyt (September 9, 1899 – August 25, 1984) was an American right-handed professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball for seven different teams during 1918–1938. He was one of the dominant pitchers of the ...

radio broadcasts. From 1959 until his death, he was the historian at the Baseball Hall of Fame, succeeding

Ernest Lanigan Ernest John Lanigan (January 4, 1873 in Chicago, Illinois – February 6, 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American sportswriter and historian on the subject of baseball. He was considered the premier baseball statistician and hist ...

. 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 MacMillan ''Baseball Encyclopedia'' which was published in the same year he died. Although Allen had been inspired as a youth by his Hall of Fame predecessor's ''Baseball 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?" In addition to biographies, Allen was also a pioneer in gathering information about

baseball park A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

s, and published one of the first comprehensive lists of major league ballparks and their locations, in the 1961 edition of one of ''The Sporting News'' publications. He died of a heart attack in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city' ...

while on a road trip researching a subject for a book.

References

External links

SABR biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Lee 1915 births 1969 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers American sportswriters Baseball writers Cincinnati Reds announcers Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Kenyon College alumni Writers from Cincinnati The Cincinnati Enquirer people