Felipe Alou
From BR Bullpen
Felipe Rojas Alou
born Felipe Rojas Alou
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 6' 0", Weight 195 lb.
- Debut June 8, 1958
- Final Game April 24, 1974
- Born May 12, 1935 in Bajos de Haina, San Cristobal, D.R.
Contents |
[edit] Biographical Information
[edit] Introduction
Part of one of the great baseball families of all-time, Felipe Alou had the unique distinction of being teammates with his brothers Matty Alou and Jesus Alou with the San Francisco Giants in 1963. He also managed his son, Moises Alou with the Montreal Expos from 1992 to 1996 and again with the San Francisco Giants in 2005 and 2006. A nephew, Mel Rojas, also played for Alou in Montreal. Two sons, Jose Alou and Felipe Alou Jr., played in the minors.
Alou held the Dominican Republic record in javelin before Carlos Bernhardt broke it. Alou was on the only Dominican national team to win Gold at a Pan American Games (through 2009) when he was on the club in the 1955 Pan American Games. 54 years later, he managed the Dominican Republic to a disappointing 1-2 finish in the 2009 World Baseball Classic.
In addition to managing the Expos from 1992 to 2001 and the Giants from 2003 to 2006, Alou was a longtime minor league manager and an Expos coach in 1979, 1980, 1984, and 1992 (before taking over as skipper). He was also the bench coach for the Detroit Tigers in 2002, during Luis Pujols' brief tenure as manager; Pujols had served earlier as a bench coach under Alou in Montreal. In 2007-2011, Alou has been "Special Assistant to the General Manager" for the Giants.
[edit] Playing career
Alou played 17 years in the major leagues, with 6 organizations. He was originally signed by the New York Yankees in 1955, but didn't come to the majors with them until he was traded to them in early 1971. He is perhaps most famous for his 6 years with the San Francisco Giants, since that's where he played with his brothers, but both he and Matty were more successful elsewhere.
Felipe's best year with the Giants was in 1962, when he hit .316 with 25 home runs. In the 1962 World Series, manager Alvin Dark used him all over the lineup - he batted, in various games, leadoff, second, third, cleanup, and sixth.
Traded to the Milwaukee Braves (he would return to San Francisco as a manager 40 years later in 2003), he traded Willie Mays as an outfield partner for Hank Aaron. In 1966, he hit .327 with 31 home runs. A couple of years later in the depths of the second dead-ball era, he hit .317 when the league as a whole hit only .243.
He played for the Oakland Athletics just before they got good, since they won the division in 1971, the year that he was traded in April. While his .271 average in 1970 doesn't seem very impressive, it was one of the highest on the team, which hit .249 in a league that hit .250. With the New York Yankees in 1971, his average of .289 was the second highest among the regulars.
He appeared in only 19 games with the Montreal Expos in 1973, but the experience apparently gave him enough contact with Canada that he was able to get a job as a minor league manager in the organization shortly after he retired, which eventually led to his appointment as manager of the Expos in 1992, a job he held for a decade. He finished out his career playing 3 games for the 1974 Milwaukee Brewers. His former Milwaukee Braves teammate Hank Aaron would do the same in 1975-1976.
Alou held the record for most wins by a manager born outside of the USA until 2008, when Bruce Bochy surpassed him. He was part of the inaugural class of inductees in the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.
His first Baseball Card appearance was in the 1959 Topps set.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- 3-time NL All-Star (1962, 1966 & 1968)
- 2-time NL At Bats Leader (1966 & 1968)
- NL Runs Scored Leader (1966)
- 2-time NL Hits Leader (1966 & 1968)
- NL Total Bases Leader (1966)
- 20-Home Run Seasons: 4 (1962, 1963, 1965 & 1966)
- 30-Home Run Seasons: 1 (1966)
- 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 1 (1966)
- 200 Hits Seasons: 2 (1966 & 1968)
- NL Manager of the Year Award (1994)
- Division Titles: 2 (1994 & 2003)
- NL Pennants: 1 (1994)
- 100 Wins Seasons as Manager: 1 (2003)
| Preceded by Tom Runnells | Montreal Expos Manager 1992-2001 | Succeeded by Jeff Torborg |
| Preceded by Dusty Baker | San Francisco Giants Manager 2003-2006 | Succeeded by Bruce Bochy |
[edit] Year By Year Managerial Record
[edit] Further Reading
- Felipe Alou (as told to George Vass): "The Game I'll Never Forget," Baseball Digest, September 1984, pp. 61-63.
- Danny Gallagher: "Felipe Alou a God-send", in Remembering the Montreal Expos, Scoop Press, Toronto, ON, 2005, pp. 169-174.
