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Felipe Alou



         


Felipe Rojas Alou (born May 12, 1935 in Haina, Dominican Republic) was a professional baseball player for the San Francisco Giants, Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Montreal Expos, and Milwaukee Brewers. He has been also a sucessful manager for the Expos and Giants. Alou is the eldest of the baseball-playing trio of brothers that included Jesús and Matty.

Alou lived in poverty in the Dominican Republic and dreamed of escaping it by becoming a doctor. However, a last minute switch from track and field to baseball at the Pan-American Games revealed a talent for the game as the Dominican team took gold. He still pursued a university career a while longer, but was finally forced to sign with the Giants in November 1955 for a measley $200 due to family financial problems.

Alou made his major league debut in 1958 and was an All-Star in 1962, when he batted .316 with 25 home runs and 98 RBI.

In 1959, Alou was joined by both of his brothers, who became the first all-brother outfield and the first brothers to bat and be retired in order.

Alou was traded to the Braves before 1964. Two years later he enjoyed his best season, when he batted .327 with 31 home runs and led the league in at bats (666), runs (122), hits (218), and total bases (355). He also had a good year in 1968, batting .317 and leading the league in at bats (662) and hits (210). He made the All-Star team both years. Alou continued to play with several more teams through 1974, though he never again approached this level of success.

After the end of his player career, Alou became a batting coach and a minor league manager in the Montreal system. The Giants offered him the manager's spot in 1985, but he remained with the Expos out of loyalty. HIs loyalty paid off in 1992 when he became the Expos manager. The Expos were developing a core of young talent during this period including Larry Walker, John Wetteland, Delino DeShields, and Alou's own son, Moisés. Everything came together in 1994 when the Expos had the best record in the majors and Alou was named the NL Manager of the Year. Unfortunately, the strike that year denied the Expos a chance at getting to their first World Series and ownership soon began dealing all their young talent to cut payroll. The Dodgers tried to lure him away in 1998, but he declined to leave Montreal. Eventually, Alou became the winningest manager in team history.

Despite Alou's popularity in Montreal, the Expos' dismal record eventually led to his dismissal by new owner Jeffrey Loria who replaced him with Jeff Torborg during the 2001 season. Several teams tried to lure Alou out of retirement, including the Red Sox, but he would not budge. He finally agreed to serve a single year as the bench coach for the Tigers rookie manager Luis Pujols (2002). Prior to the 2003 season, Alou was named manager of the Giants, the team where he began his professional baseball career, replacing Dusty Baker who had left to manage the Cubs. In his first season in San Francisco, he managed his team into the playoffs, where they were defeated by the Florida Marlins in the NLDS in 4 games. The Marlins went on to win the World Series.

YEAR TEAM AGE G AB R H 2B 3B HR HR% RBI BB SO SB CS AVG SLG OBA OPS 1958 Giants 23 75 182 21 46 9 2 4 2.20 16 19 34 4 2 .253 .390 .325 .715 1959 Giants 24 95 247 38 68 13 2 10 4.05 33 17 38 5 3 .275 .466 .318 .784 1960 Giants 25 106 322 48 85 17 3 8 2.48 44 16 42 10 2 .264 .410 .299 .709 1961 Giants 26 132 415 59 120 19 0 18 4.34 52 26 41 11 4 .289 .465 .333 .798 1962 Giants 27 154 561 96 177 30 3 25 4.46 98 33 66 10 7 .316 .513 .356 .869 1963 Giants 28 157 565 75 159 31 9 20 3.54 82 27 87 11 2 .281 .474 .319 .793 1964 Braves 29 121 415 60 105 26 3 9 2.17 51 30 41 5 2 .253 .395 .306 .701 1965 Braves 30 143 555 80 165 29 2 23 4.14 78 31 63 8 4 .297 .481 .338 .819 1966 Braves 31 154 666 122 218 32 6 31 4.65 74 24 51 5 7 .327 .533 .361 .894 1967 Braves 32 140 574 76 157 26 3 15 2.61 43 32 50 6 5 .274 .408 .318 .726 1968 Braves 33 160 662 72 210 37 5 11 1.66 57 48 56 12 11 .317 .438 .365 .803 1969 Braves 34 123 476 54 134 13 1 5 1.05 32 23 23 4 6 .282 .345 .319 .663 1970 A's 35 154 575 70 156 25 3 8 1.39 55 32 31 10 5 .271 .367 .308 .675 1971 A's 36 2 8 0 2 1 0 0 0.00 0 0 1 0 0 .250 .375 .250 .625 Yankees 36 131 461 52 133 20 6 8 1.74 69 32 24 5 5 .289 .410 .334 .744 TOTALS 133 469 52 135 21 6 8 1.71 69 32 25 5 5 .288 .409 .333 .742 1972 Yankees 37 120 324 33 90 18 1 6 1.85 37 22 27 1 0 .278 .395 .326 .721 1973 Yankees 38 93 280 25 66 12 0 4 1.43 27 9 25 0 1 .236 .321 .256 .577 Expos 38 19 48 4 10 1 0 1 2.08 4 2 4 0 1 .208 .292 .240 .532 TOTALS 112 328 29 76 13 0 5 1.52 31 11 29 0 2 .232 .317 .254 .571 1974 Brewers 39 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0 0 2 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 TOTALS 2082 7339 985 2101 359 49 206 2.81 852 423 706 107 67 .286 .433 .328 .761 LG AVERAGE 7022 866 1827 281 53 173 2.47 807 658 1057 96 61 .260 .389 .325 .715 POS AVERAGE 7173 976 1964 313 60 227 3.16 946 696 1146 101 64 .274 .429 .340 .769
YEAR TEAM RC RCAA RCAP OWP RC/G TB EBH ISO SEC BPA IBB HBP SAC SF GIDP OUTS PA POS 1958 Giants 24 -2 -4 .462 4.60 71 15 .137 .253 .453 2 1 1 1 1 141 204 RF 1959 Giants 35 3 -2 .529 4.95 115 25 .190 .267 .483 1 0 1 3 5 191 268 RF 1960 Giants 38 0 -3 .497 4.02 132 28 .146 .220 .433 1 2 3 4 9 255 347 LF 1961 Giants 62 7 -11 .547 5.33 193 37 .176 .255 .488 2 2 2 2 11 314 447 RF 1962 Giants 102 30 11 .648 6.85 288 58 .198 .262 .538 2 5 2 5 4 402 606 RF 1963 Giants 83 21 4 .623 5.21 268 60 .193 .257 .493 3 6 5 4 13 430 607 RF 1964 Braves 51 0 -3 .496 4.26 164 38 .142 .222 .432 5 4 1 5 5 323 455 CF 1965 Braves 90 22 12 .618 5.96 267 54 .184 .247 .506 4 5 4 4 6 408 599 1B 1966 Braves 122 45 32 .697 7.01 355 69 .206 .239 .537 6 12 2 2 11 470 706 1B 1967 Braves 72 1 -4 .502 4.46 234 44 .134 .192 .429 7 7 1 3 10 436 617 1B 1968 Braves 103 42 32 .722 5.83 290 53 .121 .195 .464 14 4 0 4 10 477 718 CF 1969 Braves 51 -10 -17 .416 3.81 164 19 .063 .107 .360 4 4 4 2 7 361 509 CF 1970 A's 63 -8 -22 .439 3.81 211 36 .096 .160 .384 6 1 4 6 13 447 618 LF 1971 A's 1 0 0 .455 3.86 3 1 .125 .125 .375 0 0 1 0 0 7 9 LF Yankees 59 5 -1 .535 4.50 189 34 .121 .191 .416 3 2 1 5 15 354 501 RF TOTALS 60 5 -1 .533 4.49 192 35 .122 .190 .415 3 2 2 5 15 361 510 1972 Yankees 41 9 0 .611 4.52 128 25 .117 .188 .414 1 2 1 2 8 245 351 1B 1973 Yankees 22 -13 -21 .291 2.66 90 16 .086 .114 .321 5 0 0 4 4 223 293 1B Expos 2 -5 -7 .083 1.29 14 2 .083 .104 .240 1 0 0 0 3 42 50 LF TOTALS 24 -18 -28 .255 2.45 104 18 .085 .113 .309 6 0 0 4 7 265 343 1974 Brewers 0 0 -1 .000 0.00 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 RF TOTALS 1021 147 -5 .565 4.99 3176 614 .146 .210 .452 67 57 33 56 135 5529 7908 LG AVERAGE 894 0 0 .500 4.37 2734 507 .129 .228 .426 81 47 62 52 159 5529 7840 POS AVERAGE 1048 153 0 .566 5.12 3076 600 .155 .257 .465 92 56 44 55 157 5529 8023

FELIPE ALOU LEAGUE LEADERSHIP RANKINGS

1961 NL STOLEN BASES T10TH 11

1962 NL DOUBLES T7TH 30; AVERAGE 7TH .316; SLG 8TH .513; RCAA 10TH 30; RUNS CREATED/GAME 10TH 6.85; TOTAL BASES T10TH 288; BPA 10TH .538

1963 NL DOUBLES 9TH 31; TRIPLES T7TH 9; SLG 10TH .474; EXTRA BASE HITS T9TH 60; ISOLATED POWER 8TH .193

1966 NL AT BATS 1ST 666; RUNS 1ST 122; HITS 1ST 218; SINGLES 4TH 149; DOUBLES 4TH 32; HOMERUNS 8TH 31; HR/100 OUTS 10TH 6.60; AVERAGE 2ND .327; SLG 9TH .533; OPS 9TH .894; RUNS CREATED 3RD 122; RCAA 7TH 45; RCAP T7TH 32; OWP 7TH .697; RUNS CREATED/GAME 7TH 7.01; TOTAL BASES 1ST 355; EXTRA BASE HITS 4TH 69; TOTAL AVERAGE 10TH .835; BPA 10TH .537; HIT BY PITCHES T3RD 12; PLATE APPEARANCES 2ND 706

1967 NL HIT BY PITCHES T5TH 7

1968 NL GAMES T4TH 160; AT BATS 1ST 662; HITS T1ST 210; SINGLES 2ND 157; DOUBLES T4TH 37; CAUGHT STEALING T5TH 11; AVERAGE 3RD .317; OBA 7TH .365; OPS 10TH .803; RUNS CREATED 5TH 103; RCAA 3RD 42; RCAP 4TH 32; OWP 5TH .722; RUNS CREATED/GAME 9TH 5.83; TOTAL BASES 4TH 290; INTENTIONAL WALKS 10TH 14; PLATE APPEARANCES 1ST 718; OUTS 8TH 477

1969 NL WORST OPS 9TH .663; WORST RCAP T9TH -17

1970 AL WORST RCAP 6TH -22

1971 AL TRIPLES T8TH 6

1973 AL WORST RCAP T5TH -21


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