Felipe Alou

Alou lived in poverty in the Dominican Republic, but his parents dreamed of him escaping it by having him aim to be a doctor. He was proficient in sports from a young age, having run on the track team for the Dominican national team. He entered the University of Santo Domingo in 1954 as a premedical student. He played baseball in college team while getting ready for the 1955 Pan American Games (held in March), aiming for track. However, at the last minute, he was switched to the baseball roster. The Dominican team would win the gold. He planned to stay with his studies, but he attracted interest in baseball due to his university coach, who had served as a scout with the Giants. In November 1955, he signed with the New York Giants for $200 due to family financial problems.[4]

After a few years in the minors, Alou made his major league debut at the age of 23 on June 8, 1958. He went 2-for-3 while driving in a run.[5] He played sparingly in his first three seasons, playing 276 total games (with 199 hits) in his first three combined seasons (primarily in the outfield while spending a bit of time pinch-hitting); he walked 52 times while striking out 114 times. Felipe was joined by his brother Matty in 1960. He played in 132 games for the 1961 squad and batted .289 while collecting 120 hits with eighteen home runs.[6][7][8][9]

Felipe was joined by his brothers, Matty in 1960, and Jesús in 1963. All three formed the first and only all-brother outfield in MLB history in the last two innings of a 13–5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field on September 15, 1963. Felipe was the starting right fielder but first moved to left in the seventh inning when Jesús entered the game in right and then to center in the eighth when Matty was inserted in left.[10]

1962 was his fifth season with the Giants. It would also be his first All-Star season along with the first time he would reach the postseason. He played 154 games while being named to the 1962 All-Star Game (first game); he batted .316 while slugging 25 home runs with 98 runs batted in (RBI) [11] The Giants won 101 games in the National League West division to force a 1962 National League tie-breaker series with the Los Angeles Dodgers (a best-of-three series counted as regular season games). In the ninth inning of the third game, the Giants trailed 4–2 with Ed Roebuck pitching. Matty Alou started the inning with a single, and Felipe later came to bat with two on base and one out. Alou would draw a walk on six pitches to load the bases. The next batter, Willie Mays, lined a shot through the pitcher for a run, before Orlando Cepeda drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to tie the game; Jim Davenport would draw a walk with the bases loaded again to score Alou as the third of four runs scored by the Giants in the inning on their way to a 6–2 victory.[12] This meant the Giants had won their first NL pennant since 1954 and first since the move to San Francisco. Alou and his Giants were matched against the New York Yankees (winners of the last World Series). In a seven-game series, he batted .269 (collecting seven hits). However, it was the play that he did not make that "haunted" him. In Game 7, the Giants were trailing 1–0 in the bottom of the ninth inning with a batter on. Alou was instructed to bunt against pitcher Ralph Terry. However, the bunt moved foul on the first base line. He then hit a foul ball on a called hit-and-run play before striking out. This proved key on the final out of the game, when Willie Mays hit a two-out double before Willie McCovey committed the last out with batters on third and second; Alou was quoted as stating “You have to be ready to bunt in a World Series. I was not ready. I drove in 98 runs. I hit 25 home runs [including 15 at Candlestick Park], and Candlestick was big. I saw the bunt sign, and I had my doubts."[13][14][15]

Despite playing with a handful of Latino players (such as Orlando Cepeda) on the Giants, manager Alvin Dark did not allow them to speak Spanish in the clubhouse, which displeased Alou, who noted it decades later in his memoirs; the two became friends after Alou retired because of their shared Christian faith.[16][17] He also had a problem with what he felt was a lack of understanding that Major League Baseball had with its Latino players, stating “We have many friends in this country, our names are in the American papers, and we become well known to many Americans, but though we are in this country, we are not a part of this country. We are strangers.”[18]

He was traded to the Braves before the 1964 season with Ed Bailey, Billy Hoeft and a player to be named later (Ernie Bowman) for Del Crandall, Bob Hendley and Bob Shaw. In 1966 Alou batted .327 with 31 home runs and led the league in runs (122), hits (218), at bats (666) and total bases (355); he finished second in the batting race to his brother Matty and fifth in National League MVP voting. In 1968 Alou batted .317 and leading the league in hits (210) and at bats (662); he made the All-Star team both years. While the Braves went to the 1969 National League Championship Series after winning the NL West, Alou appeared just once, doing so as a pinch hitter in Game 3. Facing Nolan Ryan, he lined out in the eighth inning for his last postseason appearance as a player.[19]

After that season, the Braves traded Alou to the Athletics for Jim Nash. In April 1971, He was dealt from the Athletics to the Yankees for Rob Gardner and Ron Klimkowski on April 9, 1971.[20]

He played in 131 games for the Yankees, batting .288 with 135 total hits and eight home runs. He played another two years with the Yankees (playing 120 games in 1972, 93 in 1973), ultimately hitting .271 with 289 combined hits in three years with the team. On September 6, 1973, he was selected off waivers by the Expos from the Yankees; he played nineteen games with the Expos, having ten hits. He was purchased by the Brewers from the Expos after the season. He played three games for the Brewers, striking out twice with no hits before being released on April 29.[21][22][23][24]

In 2,082 games played over eighteen seasons, Alou compiled a .286 batting average (2101-for-7339) with 985 runs, 359 doubles, 49 triples, 206 home runs, 852 RBI, 423 base on balls, .328 on-base percentage and .433 slugging percentage. His career fielding percentage was .986 at all three outfield positions and first base.

Alou has been married four times, three of which ended in divorce. He met Lucie in 1985 and they reside in Florida. He continues to work in baseball. Alou has eleven children: Maria Rojas Beltre, Jose Alou (who died in a swimming accident at the age of 15), Moisés Alou, Christia Alou, Cheri Alou, Jennifer Alou, Felipe Rojas Brens, Luis Rojas, Valérie Alou, and Felipe Alou Jr.[30]

In 2018, he released a memoir, titled Alou: My Baseball Journey, which he cowrote with Peter Kerasotis.[31]

• Alou family
• List of Major League Baseball players from the Dominican Republic
• List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
• List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders
• List of second-generation Major League Baseball players
• List of Major League Baseball managers by wins

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)
• Felipe Alou managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com
• Retrosheet
• Felipe Alou at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
• Republic of Baseball: The Dominican Giants of the American Game Latino Public Broadcasting documentary on Alou, Juan Marichal, and Manny Mota