Born in Lenoir, North Carolina, Allen reached the Yankees in an unusual way. While working as a bellhop in a hotel, he was told to take some fans to the room of Yankee scout Paul Krichell. Allen told Krichell that he was a pitcher, and the scout arranged a tryout. Allen was an immediate success for the Yankees, debuting in 1932 with a 17-4 record and a 3.70 ERA for the world champions. He was less stellar in that year's World Series, starting Game 4 and leaving after giving up 3 runs off five hits in just two-thirds of an inning. He continued to post decent records for the Yankees, but he constantly held out for more money and a sore arm threatened his career. For these reasons, he was dealt to the Indians before the 1936 season.

Allen turned things around in Cleveland, going 20-10 with a 3.44 ERA in 1936 and following that up by winning his first fifteen decisions of 1937, one short of the record held by Walter Johnson. He lost his next start 1-0 on an unearned run, but his 15-1 mark that year set a winning percentage record that lasted until Roy Face bettered it with an 18-1 record in 1959. In 1938, he won his first twelve decisions and made his only all star team. During the all star break, he suffered an unknown injury, some claim he slipped on a bar of soap in the shower, and never did approach his earlier success again, finally retiring in 1944 after six mediocre campaigns. He became a minor league umpire after retiring, eventually becoming the umpire-in-chief of the Carolina League. He died at age 53 in St. Petersburg, Florida.

YEAR TEAM AGE W L PCT G GS CG SV GF IP H R ER BB SO ERA RSAA 1932 Yankees 26 17 4 .810 33 21 13 4 6 192 162 86 79 76 109 3.70 8 1933 Yankees 27 15 7 .682 25 24 10 1 1 185 171 96 90 87 119 4.38 -10 1934 Yankees 28 5 2 .714 13 10 4 0 2 72 62 30 23 32 54 2.88 10 1935 Yankees 29 13 6 .684 23 23 12 0 0 167 149 76 67 58 113 3.61 7 1936 Indians 30 20 10 .667 36 31 19 1 4 243 234 108 93 97 165 3.44 52 1937 Indians 31 15 1 .938 24 20 14 0 4 173 157 55 49 60 87 2.55 35 1938 Indians 32 14 8 .636 30 27 13 0 3 200 189 107 93 81 112 4.19 10 1939 Indians 33 9 7 .563 28 26 9 0 2 175 199 96 89 56 79 4.58 -4 1940 Indians 34 9 8 .529 32 17 5 5 12 139 126 61 53 48 62 3.43 8 1941 Browns 35 2 5 .286 20 9 2 1 6 67 89 53 49 29 27 6.58 -17 Dodgers 35 3 0 1.000 11 4 1 0 2 57 38 18 16 12 21 2.53 7 TOTALS 5 5 .500 31 13 3 1 8 124 127 71 65 41 48 4.72 -10 1942 Dodgers 36 10 6 .625 27 15 5 3 9 118 106 53 42 39 50 3.20 1 1943 Dodgers 37 5 1 .833 17 1 0 1 4 38 42 21 18 25 15 4.26 -3 Giants 37 1 3 .250 15 0 0 2 10 41 37 16 14 14 24 3.07 1 TOTALS 6 4 .600 32 1 0 3 14 79 79 37 32 39 39 3.65 -2 1944 Giants 38 4 7 .364 18 13 2 0 3 84 88 48 38 24 33 4.07 -2 TOTALS 142 75 .654 352 241 109 18 68 1951 1849 924 813 738 1070 3.75 103 LG AVERAGE 109 109 .500 108 11 1951 2104 1103 952 810 746 4.39 0 YEAR TEAM HR H/9 BR/9 SO/9 BB/9 SO/BB SHO WP IBB HBP BFP BK NW NL 1932 Yankees 10 7.59 11.39 5.11 3.56 1.43 3 5 0 5 804 1 11 10 1933 Yankees 9 8.32 12.75 5.79 4.23 1.37 1 10 0 4 804 0 10 12 1934 Yankees 3 7.75 12.00 6.75 4.00 1.69 0 5 0 2 309 0 5 2 1935 Yankees 11 8.03 11.37 6.09 3.13 1.95 2 3 0 4 692 0 10 9 1936 Indians 5 8.67 12.30 6.11 3.59 1.70 4 13 0 1 1030 0 21 9 1937 Indians 4 8.17 11.55 4.53 3.12 1.45 0 2 0 5 713 0 12 4 1938 Indians 15 8.51 12.29 5.04 3.65 1.38 0 7 0 3 855 0 12 10 1939 Indians 9 10.23 13.27 4.06 2.88 1.41 2 5 0 3 763 2 8 8 1940 Indians 3 8.16 11.46 4.01 3.11 1.29 3 0 0 3 576 0 10 7 1941 Browns 4 11.96 16.12 3.63 3.90 0.93 0 8 0 2 317 1 2 5 Dodgers 6 6.00 7.89 3.32 1.89 1.75 0 0 0 0 218 0 2 1 TOTALS 10 9.22 12.34 3.48 2.98 1.17 0 8 0 2 535 1 4 6 1942 Dodgers 11 8.08 11.21 3.81 2.97 1.28 1 1 0 2 494 0 8 8 1943 Dodgers 3 9.95 16.34 3.55 5.92 0.60 0 2 0 2 180 1 2 4 Giants 4 8.12 11.20 5.27 3.07 1.71 0 4 0 0 169 0 2 2 TOTALS 7 9.00 13.67 4.44 4.44 1.00 0 6 0 2 349 1 4 6 1944 Giants 7 9.43 12.21 3.54 2.57 1.38 1 3 0 2 368 0 5 6 TOTALS 104 8.53 12.11 4.94 3.40 1.45 17 68 0 38 8292 5 120 97 LG AVERAGE 128 9.71 13.58 3.44 3.74 0.92 11 40 0 29 8627 4 JOHNNY ALLEN LEAGUE LEADERSHIP RANKINGS

1932 AL WINS T8TH 17; WINNING PERCENTAGE 1ST .810; SAVES T9TH 4; STRIKEOUTS T6TH 109; ERA 9TH 3.70; HITS/9 IP 1ST 7.59; BASERUNNERS/9 IP 3RD 11.39; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 5TH 5.11; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 5TH 1.43; SHUTOUTS T3RD 3; WILD PITCHES T9TH 5; HIT BY PITCHES T5TH 5; BALKS T5TH 1

1933 AL WINS T7TH 15; WINNING PERCENTAGE 5TH .682; STRIKEOUTS 5TH 119; WORST ERA 7TH 4.38; HITS/9 IP 3RD 8.32; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 2ND 5.79; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 5TH 1.37; WILD PITCHES T1ST 10; HIT BY PITCHES T6TH 4

1934 AL WILD PITCHES T9TH 5

1935 AL WINNING PERCENTAGE 2ND .684; STRIKEOUTS 5TH 113; ERA 10TH 3.61; HITS/9 IP 1ST 8.03; BASERUNNERS/9 IP 4TH 11.37; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 1ST 6.09; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 2ND 1.95; SHUTOUTS T9TH 2; HIT BY PITCHES T6TH 4

1936 AL WINS T3RD 20; WINNING PERCENTAGE 5TH .667; GAMES STARTED T8TH 31; COMPLETE GAMES T8TH 19; INNINGS PITCHED 8TH 243; WALKS 9TH 97; STRIKEOUTS 2ND 165; ERA 2ND 3.44; RSAA 2ND 52; HITS/9 IP 3RD 8.67; BASERUNNERS/9 IP 4TH 12.30; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 1ST 6.11; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 3RD 1.70; SHUTOUTS T3RD 4; WILD PITCHES 2ND 13; NEUTRAL WINS T2ND 21

1937 AL WINS T8TH 15; WINNING PERCENTAGE 1ST .938; ERA 3RD 2.55; RSAA 5TH 35; HITS/9 IP 4TH 8.17; BASERUNNERS/9 IP 4TH 11.55; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 8TH 4.53; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 6TH 1.45; HIT BY PITCHES T5TH 5

1938 AL WINNING PERCENTAGE 6TH .636; STRIKEOUTS T6TH 112; HITS/9 IP 2ND 8.51; BASERUNNERS/9 IP 7TH 12.28; STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 5TH 5.04; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 5TH 1.38; WILD PITCHES T4TH 7

1939 AL STRIKEOUTS/9 IP 9TH 4.06; WALKS/9 IP 8TH 2.88; STRIKEOUTS/WALKS 7TH 1.41; SHUTOUTS T3RD 2; WILD PITCHES T8TH 5; HIT BY PITCHES T10TH 3; BALKS T1ST 2

1940 AL SAVES T4TH 5; SHUTOUTS T4TH 3; HIT BY PITCHES T10TH 3

1941 AL WORST RSAA 9TH -17; WILD PITCHES T4TH 8; BALKS T4TH 1

1942 NL SAVES T9TH 3; HOMERUNS T9TH 11

1943 NL SAVES T10TH 3; GAMES FINISHED T8TH 14; WILD PITCHES T2ND 6; BALKS T3RD 1