Felipe Alou

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Felipe Rojas Alou (born May 12, 1935 in Bajos de Haina, Dominican Republic) is a former outfielder and first baseman in Major League Baseball and the former manager of the San Francisco Giants. The first Dominican to play regularly in the major leagues, he is the most prominent member of one of the sport's most notable families of the late 20th century: his younger brothers Matty and Jesús were both longtime National League outfielders, and his son Moisés is a current outfielder with the New York Mets; all but Jesús have been named All-Stars at least twice.

During his 17-year career spent with the Giants, Milwaukee & Atlanta Braves, Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, Montreal Expos, and Milwaukee Brewers, Alou played all three outfield positions regularly (736 games in right field, 483 in center, 433 in left), and led the National League in hits twice and runs once. Batting regularly in the leadoff spot, he hit a home run to begin a game on 20 occasions. He later became the winningest manager in Expos history, leading the team from 1992 to 2001 before rejoining the Giants in 2003.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Managing career 3 Playing statistics 3.1 League leadership rankings 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Playing career

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.

Alou was joined by his brothers, Matty in 1960, and Jesus in 1963, who became the first all-brother outfield.

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 runs (122), hits (218), at bats (666), and total bases (355); he finished second in the batting race to his brother Matty. He also had a good year in 1968, batting .317 and leading the league in hits (210) and at bats (662); 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.

[edit] Managing career

After the end of his playing 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; this paid off in 1992 when he became the Expos manager. The team was 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 major leagues; 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. Alou was named the NL Manager of the Year. The Los Angeles 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 Boston Red Sox, but he would not budge. He finally agreed to serve a single year as the bench coach for Detroit 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 Chicago 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 NL Division Series in 4 games. The Marlins went on to win the World Series.

In 2005, the Giants signed Moisés Alou to a one-year contract with an option for the 2006 season, reuniting him professionally with his father after seven seasons apart. The two plan to finish their respective careers together.^{[citation needed]}

Despite his team's poor performance, the Giants signed the elder Alou to a one-year contract extension midway through the 2005 season, bringing him back for his fourth season as the team's manager. During the 2005 season, Alou and some Giants players, such as Omar Vizquel, were publicly offended by racially inflammatory comments made by local radio host Larry Krueger towards Giants hitters of Caribbean/Latin origin. In response, Alou refused to accept Krueger's apology and called him "this messenger of "Satan". Alou's contract ended after the 2006 season.

[edit] Playing statistics

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 

[edit] League leadership rankings

Category	Position	Stat
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
Home runs	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 NL
Worst rcap	6th	-22
1971 AL
Triples	t8th	6
1973 AL
Worst rcap	t5th	-21

[edit] See also

• Players from Dominican Republic in MLB

[edit] External links

• career statistics @ Baseball-Reference.com & managing record @ Baseball-Reference.com
• Baseball Almanac
• Baseball Library

Preceded by Dusty Baker	National League Manager of the Year 1994	Succeeded by Don Baylor
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