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 successful 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 only $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. In 1994 the Expos had the best record in the majors and Alou was named the NL Manager of the Year. However, 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.

In 2005, the Giants signed Moisés Alou to a one-year contract, reuniting him professionally with his father after seven seasons apart. The two plan to finish their respective careers together.

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

See also

• Players from Dominican Republic in MLB

External links

• Baseball Almanac (http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=aloufe01)
• Baseball Library (http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/A/Alou_Felipe.stm)
• Baseball-Reference.com (http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/aloufe01.shtml) - career statistics and managing recordja:フェリペ・アルー