Neil Allen: The Relief Pitcher Who Was Traded Away to Get Keith Hernandez (1979 - 1983)

Neil Patrick Allen was born January 24, 1958, in Kansas City, Kansas. His father Bob was an elevator operator & his mom Betty Rae worked for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. Neil had three other brothers.

The six-foot three right hander was selected by the New York Mets out of Bishop Ward high school in Kansas City, Kansas in the 11th round of the 1976 draft.

In 1977 at A ball, with the Lynchburg Mets, Allen was 10-2 with 126 strikeouts & a 2.79 ERA. 

The next year he was brought up through the ranks going 7-16 but posted a strong 2.79 ERA, getting a promotion to the Mets staff for 1979. 

Mets Career: On April 15th, 1979, Allen made his debut, pitching against the Phillies & former Met Nino Espinoza. Allen gave up four runs & took the loss.

Allen struggled as a starter losing his first five decisions, allowing 18 earned runs in 21.2 innings for a 7.48 ERA. He was brought up too early by the Mets who were too cheap to acquire quality veterans. Allen along with youngsters Jesse Orosco & Mike Scott were put on the Joe Torre's staff by GM Joe McDonald.

Becoming the Team's Closer: Allen was losing his confidence & was almost shipped back to the minor leagues. Then in mid-May he was put into to the bull pen. By early June he was put into the fireman / closer role to replace the injured Skip Lockwood. Allen loved getting thrown into the fire & excelled, as reliever he found a new home.

 On May 20th, he earned his first relief win in extra innings, coming against the Cardinals after Frank Tavares collected a walk off single.

From May 20th to July 21st, Alen had four straight winning decisions. From July 24th to August 16th, he earned five saves, a hold & posted a 1.02 ERA over nine games.

In September the Mets didn't give him too many save opportunities, he still he earned three more saves going 2-3 with a 1.19 ERA at month.

Allen would finish up the season at 6-10 with eight saves (2nd on the team to Skip Lockwood). He struck out 65 & walked 47 in 99 innings in 50 appearances, finishing of 27 games posting a 3.55 ERA.

1980:  On Opening Day, Allen got the save in relief of Craig Swan over the Chicago Cubs to start the season in front of just 12,000 fans at Shea Stadium. 

Allen finished April with four saves, a loss & two blown saves, with an inflated 8.22 ERA. In May he went 2-0 with five saves posting a 1.56 ERA. In that month he only allowed three earned runs in 17 innings.

On June 4th he pitched three innings of relief, but the one hit he allowed was the game winning HR to St. Louis Ken Reitz. Three days later he pitched another three innings of relief, this time his catcher Ron Hodges hit a walk off RBI single getting him a win. 

On August 4th, in the first game of a double header, he gave up a 10th inning walk off single to the Expos Andre Dawson, to fall to 5-7. He appeared in the second game as well, earning the save. 

12 Scoreless Innings: Over the next month he didn't allow a run in 12 innings over nine games, earning five saves & a win.

That season, he would save a career high 22 games on the season (4th in the NL) going 7-10 with a 3.70 ERA striking out 79 batters in 97 innings pitched for the last place club.

1981: In the 1981 strike shortened season, he saved 18 games (3rd best in the NL) going 7-6 posting a 2.97 ERA, while becoming one the league’s best closers. At the same time Jeff Reardon was also developing into a fine relief pitcher on the same Mets club.

The Mets were trying to improve their team by shopping for a good hitting outfielder. The Expos were willing to trade star outfielder Ellis Valentine but wanted one of the Mets young relievers in return. The Mets chose to keep Allen & give up Jeff Reardon. At the end of May Jeff Reardon & Dan Norman were sent to Montreal for Ellis Valentine.

In 1982, Allen started out with a good April posting five saves not blowing an opportunity until the end of the month. He finished out the month of May with 13 saves in 14 opportunities with a 2.03 ERA. 

At the All Star break he had 17 saves, was 3-6 with a 3.44 ERA. In August he got injured & only pitched five more games the rest of the season. Allen finished with a 3-7 record & 19 saves (6th in the league) while posting a .306 ERA. He struck out 59 & walked 30 in 64.2 innings in 50 appearances.

1983: Allen began the season with an Opening Day save in relief of Tom Seaver who had returned to Shea after six years. 

Allen struggled the rest of the month, taking three losses. After a 2-4 start with a two saves & a blown save the Mets converted him back to a starter. 

Stress & Alcohol Issues: Allen began drinking more & believed he had an alcohol problem. Some of his teammates including Tom Seaver didn't think alcohol was his problem. He told the Mets organization about it & went to counseling. Allen was diagnosed as suffering from stress related issues, then began therapy. 

On May 14th in Pittsburgh, Manager George Bamberger gave Allen his first start in four years. He earned the victory as he allowed two runs on five hits, in five innings of work against the Pirates.

Shut Out: On May 20th at Shea Stadium, Allen shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers with a six-hitter striking out seven.

In his next two starts, both against the San Francisco Giants, he gave up five runs each time, taking the losses. At the start of June he was back in the bullpen. 

On June 4th he gave up a 7th inning HR to Steve Yeager which was the game winner. On June 9th, he blew a save at Wrigley Field sending the game to extras, where Bob Bailors 11th inning single won it for the Mets.

Allen was 2-7 with a 4.50 ERA by mid-June but was still considered a good young pitcher with a great future. 

Blockbuster Trade: Meanwhile the new Mets ownership was hard at work trying to make a big deal behind the scenes. 

In St. Louis Cardinals, manager Whitey Herzog & Keith Hernandez were having issues. Herzog felt Hernandez wasn't hustling, had a bad attitude & was a bad influence on other players. New Mets ownership & former Met GM, Joe McDonald now with St. Louis, worked out a deal.

On the trade deadline of 1983, Neil Allen was sent to the 1982 World Champion Cardinals (along with pitcher Rick Ownbey) for All Star Keith Hernandez. It was one of the best trades the Mets ever made.

At the time of the trade the Mets were playing the Cardinals & Neil Allen had a two-strike count on a hitter when a rain delay came. 

The next time the two teams faced off, the rain delay was picked up, Allen was now pitching for
the Cards & struck out the Mets batter who was filling in his old spot in the batting order with two previous strikes on him. You can say Neil Allen is the only player in history to strike himself out. 

Mets Career Stats: In his five-year Mets career Allen pitched in 223 games (23rd on the Mets all-time list), going 25-40 with 69 saves (10th on the Mets all-time list). He struck out 285 batters, walked 179 in 381 innings while posting a 3.54 ERA.

Allen made his first start for the Cardinals against the Mets at Busch Stadium a few days later. He
was spectacular pitching eight innings of shutout ball allowing just four hits while striking out six. He pitched well for the Cards, including back-to-back shut outs in July against the Dodgers & Padres.

Allen finished the year at 10-6 in St. Louis going 12-13 overall (8th most losses in the NL) with a 3.94 ERA. His three shutouts were 5th best in the NL, & his eight wild pitches within the top ten most.

In 1984 he was 9-6 & was put back in the bullpen for the 1985 season. Allen struggled & wasn’t as effective as he was in the past. The Cardinal fans let him have it & he was traded to the AL New York team mid-season. Over the next three seasons he would bounce from the Bronx to the South Side of Chicago & pitch for the White Sox.

In 1986 the White Sox put him back in a starting role & in May against his old AL New York teammates he pitched a four-hit victory against Ron Guidry. Next month he tossed a two-hit shutout against them in New York as well. He went 7-2 that year with a 3.82 ERA. He finished his playing career in 1989 with Cleveland going 0-1. 

Career Stats: In his 11-year career he saved 75 games with a 58-70 record and a 3.83 ERA in 434 games. He struck out 611 batters with 417 walks in 988 innings.

Family: Neal was married twice. In 1980 he married Linda (Rooney) together they had two children. 

In 1996. he married his second wife Lisa Ann in Sarasota Florida. She was a registered nurse & tennis player. In 2012 she passed away from a brain aneurysm, she was just 53 years old.

Retirement: Since his playing days Allen has been a pitching coach in the minor leagues. 

Allen was with the Toronto Blue Jays organization (1996-1999) then the Staten Island A ball (2000) Columbus Clippers (2003-2006) spending one year with the AL New York club as bullpen coach (2005). 

Allen then spent a year (2007) with the Durham Bulls for the Tampa Rays.

In 2014 Allen was named pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins, spending four years there in that position. 

In his time in Minnesota, he had a DUI in 2016, completed a five-week outpatient treatment & was back to work for the Twins. 

In 2017 he was released after the season & retired from coaching.