Where Have You Gone, Marlon Allen?
On that night, a still-injured Allen, who had not played in a game that season since June 28, was summoned by manager John Stearns to pinch-hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. There was one man on base with the P-Reds trailing the Huntington Cubs by a run. Several pitches later, he crushed a 2-2 fastball over the scoreboard and in the minds of many fans, sealed the magical fate that would result in nothing less than Princeton's only Appalachian League championship team to date. The site of Allen limping around the bases at a pace barely faster than a walk to cement the miracle win will never escape the minds of the fans in attendance that night.
"That (home run) was indeed a big booster for our players but at that point I still felt a little bit disconnected from the team because I had been hurt for so long and unable to really contribute," said Allen in a recent telephone interview from his home in his native Columbus, GA.
The man with this big impact arrived in Princeton in '94 for his first professional season as a lowly 40th round draft choice from Columbus (GA) College, where one of his college teammates was future 1996 P-Red and Appalachian League All-Star outfielder Brandon O'Hearn. Columbus College also later produced a great former Princeton Devil Ray, 1998 second sacker Derek Mann. However, he saw things were going to be different from college ball right away.
"What really stuck out to me the most was the competition for jobs and the mixture on our team of high school, college, and Latin players," commented Allen, who also mentioned that the team living together in the dormitories at Concord University's Sarvay Hall seemed to blend the team's chemistry into the "never say die" kids that have never been topped as a unit for greatness in Princeton's 20-year franchise history. It sure didn't look that way in the beginning though. The team that would become league champions misfired out of the gate with an 0-3 record as a result of being swept by the weak Martinsville Phillies.
"Despite the fact that we started out 0-3, I was really ripping the ball and had four home runs early in my first six games or so," he recalled and also added "when (1994 Appy League MVP) Decomba Conner got hot and the way he lead through his exciting play, things started clicking. About this time also, pitcher (and 1994 Appy League ERA leader at 1.36) Cedric Allen was moved out of the bullpen and got hot. You could see him begging for the catcher to get the ball back to him as soon as possible so he could throw the next pitch."
Then, after his hot start, he was reduced to the role of bystander as a long-standing injury problem he had with his knee came calling.
"The injury was something I had been dealing with off and on since the seventh grade. It basically revolved around some undeveloped muscles around my knee. The surgery I had at the end of the '94 season was to strengthen the muscle around the knee so it wouldn't slip out of place," revealed Allen.
He sat through those long 36 days in the summer of 1994 without playing while trying to rehab the knee and was even sent home for surgery before the completion of the season. In between though, there was that one defining moment of the season: August 3, 1994. Marlon has also never forgotten the maestro of that moment, the very deserving 1994 Appalachian League "Manager of the Year," John Stearns.
"I loved playing for John Stearns. I figured out imemdiately that he would be one of the best coaches that I would ever play for. He had the potential to push the right button for each player at the right time," observed Allen, whose button pushing theory on Stearns was never more aptly proven than on the night of August 3, 1994.
Later on in August, he was sent home for surgery while the P-Reds, after their 0-3 start, went 43-23 (including playoffs) the rest of the journey to steamroll their way to the Appalachian League pennant. It took one phone call for Marlon to celebrate the '94 pennant from the hospital bed he was residing in while recovering from the just-performed knee surgery.
"I remember John Stearns calling me right after the title game to give me the news we were champs and I started hollering. The nurse even came in and told me to quiet down as I was disturbing the rest of the hospital. We had a special chemistry on that team and it resulted in us winning a title," he remembered.
Marlon hit six homers in 20 games for the 1994 P-Reds, a figure that, if he would have stayed healthy, would have computed to 21 homers (which to this day would still be a Princeton franchise record) for an entire season. Cincinnati also saw this potential and they were the only organization that he worked for in his six-year professional career, five as a player and then one (1999) as a coach at Clinton, IA. Following Princeton, he played in Charleston, WV in 1995, Winston-Salem in 1996, Burlington, IA and Double-A Chattanooga in 1997, and entire season with Chattanooga in 1998. His totals increased each of his first three seasons in games played, at-bats, runs scored, home runs, and runs batted in. However, surgery on his shoulder following the 1998 season brought with it the decision from the Cincinnati Reds that his playing days in their organization were over but they also felt he was coaching material and thus, the coaching assignment with Clinton (IA) Lumber Kings in 1999 became his. It was a season that also turned out to be Marlon's last in a professional uniform.
"It was really hard to coach guys that the season before were my teammates. Five months before I had been hanging out with them as a player and the first day of the next spring training I am sitting in a room discussing their strengths and weaknesses as a coach. As we went over the rosters that day, I thought how in the world could I not have one more chance? I felt that 1999 was going to be my breakout year," said Allen. He added he knew his time in pro ball was over when, as a coach, he had to look players in the eye that he already knew were going to be released later that same day.
Armed with the determination to continue to make a difference, Marlon, who will turn 34 years old on March 28, returned to college and received his degree in Computer Information Management in 2000.
This coming August, he will celebrate his seventh anniversary of working for the Boy Scouts of America as the Assistant Executive Director for the greater Columbus, GA area. He is responsible for the day-to-day supervision and management of all the Boy Scout organizations in that area.
He is now married, settled and doing well for himself in Columbus, GA, but he will forever be remembered as the man, who on one night and with one swing of the bat, rocketed the city of Princeton, West Virginia into the world of believing that they too would soon be hosting a team that would be known as Appalachian League Champions.