Chad Allen

Chad Allen was an outfielder who played for the USA at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic baseball tournament, winning a bronze medal. Allen grew up in an athletic family as his father, Jackie Allen, played cornerback in the NFL. Chad Allen played baseball at Texas A&M University from 1994-96 before being drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1996 MLB draft.

Allen started out in the minors in 1996 with the Fort Myers Miracle and then played for the New Britain Rock Cats for the 1997-98 seasons. He came up to the Twins after 1999 spring training and spent parts of three seasons in the bigs, spending 1999 as the starting left fielder and playing 137 games. He was back and forth from the majors to the minors in 2000-01. In August 2001 Allen tore his ACL and he was released by the Twins after the season.

Allen played a few more seasons of pro ball, getting back to the majors for stints with the Cleveland Indians, Florida Marlins, and Texas Rangers, playing through 2005, although he also spent stretches of 2001-05 in the minors. In 2007 he played for the Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball, ending his career after that season in Japan. He later became a minor league hitting coach.