Felipe Alou
| Birthdate | 5/12/1935 |
| Death Date | |
| Debut Year | 1958 |
| Year of Induction | |
| Teams | Athletics, Braves, Brewers, Expos, Giants, Yankees |
| Positions | Center Field, First Base, Left Field, Manager, Right Field |
Felipe Alou, Frank Robinson, and Joe Torre are the only three men in baseball history to have 2,000 hits, 200 home runs, and 1,000 managerial wins.
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Three-time All Star Felipe Alou twice led the majors in hits during his 17-year playing career
Three-time All Star Felipe Alou twice led the majors in hits during his 17-year playing career
Dominican-born Felipe Alou broke into the big leagues in 1958 with the San Francisco Giants. The team was an up-and-comer that featured future Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda and Willie Mays. In 1959 they added Willie McCovey. The following year Juan Marichal joined the club, making it a force to be reckoned with.
In 1962, Alou blossomed into a star. Playing in 154 games, he hit .316 and slugged 25 homers with 30 doubles, and 98 RBI. The Giants won 103 games and the National League pennant. It would be over a quarter century until they won it again.
In 1963 Alou again reached both the 20-home and 30-double plateaus. On September 10th that season, he played in a historic contest that featured siblings Jesus and Matty in the same box score. Five days later the Alou brothers found themselves together in the Giants outfield in a game in Pittsburgh.
In December of ’63, Alou was shipped to Milwaukee as part of a 7-player deal. With the Braves his strong production continued. From 1962-1968 Alou made three All Star teams, and led all the majors in hits in both 1966 (218) and 1968 (210). During the 8-year run he received MVP votes in three seasons, finished in the top-10 twice and earned a 5th-place tally in 1966 when he led the National League in total bases.
Alou played with the Braves until the end of the 1969 season. In December, Atlanta traded him to Oakland. In 156 games with A’s Alou hit .271 before being sent to the Yankees in April of ’71. Three-hundred and forty-four games in New York also featured a .271 average.
Released by the Yankees in September of ’73, Alou played 19 games for the Expos at the end of ’73 and three more contests with the Brewers in ’74 before calling it quits.
From there Alou began a second career as a coach, manager, and front office man that lasted until into his late 80s.
Shown here is a check from the New York Yankees on March 15, 1973 made out to Felipe Alou in his penultimate season as a big league player.
The 1994 Manager of the Year led both the Expos and Giants to divisional championships
The 1994 Manager of the Year led both the Expos and Giants to divisional championships
Soon after ending his playing career, Felipe Alou turned to managing. Hired by the Expos as an minor league instructor instructor in 1976, he took the helm of the Class-A West Palm Beach Expos in ’77.
For the next 17 seasons he piloted teams throughout the Expos organization including stops in Memphis, Denver, Wichita, and Indianapolis. In the winters he managed in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and in the Dominican Republic, his home country.
In 1992 Alou made it back to the majors as the Expos bench coach. When the team stumbled to a 17-20 mark, Montreal replaced manager Tom Runnels with Alou. The move made Alou the first Dominican-born skipper in MLB history. Montreal responded by going 77-50 after his hiring.
In 1993 Alou guided the Expos to a second-place finish the NL east with 94 wins – the second-most wins in franchise history to that point. Then came a magical 1994 season.
After winning 28 of their first 50 games, the Expos caught fire. Starting on June 1st, Montreal won six in a row and 12 of 14 contests. From June 1st until the players’ strike ended the season, the Expos had went 46-18. They finished the season with a .649 winning percentage which extrapolates to a 105-win campaign. It remains the highest single-season winning percentage in team history.
Five players represented Montreal in the All Star Game including Felipe’s son Moises who had the game-winning hit for the NL squad. For his work, Felipe was named Manager of the Year. By the time he left Montreal in 2001, Alou claimed the most wins by a manager in franchise history. The record remains his today.
Alou took over the Giants in 2003 and immediately guided them to 100 wins and the division championship. His final three season in San Francisco resulted in a second-place campaign and two third-place finishes.
In addition to being the majors’ first Dominican skipper, Alou is also the first manager of Latin descent to win 1,000 games and one of only three foreign-born manager to reach the 1,000-win plateau. The other two are Hall of Famer Harry Wright who was born in England, and four-time World Series champion Bruce Bochy who was born in France.
The Giants elevated Alou to the role of Special Assistant to Baseball Operations immediately after he left the dugout. In 2015 he was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. The following year inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame. Alou turned 88 in 2023 and completed his 17th year in the Giants front office and his 68th season in professional baseball.
Shown here is the reverse of the check made out to Alou. Notice his signature near the top in the form of an endorsement.
The Alou brothers played together on 9/10/1963; five days later they manned the Giants outfield
The Alou brothers played together on 9/10/1963; five days later they manned the Giants outfield
In 1963, brothers Felipe, Matty, and Jesus made baseball history. The trio appeared in the same game for the Giants on September 10th. On the 15th, with Jesus in right, Felipe in center, and Matty in left, they patrolled the outfield together at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field.
By the time their playing careers were over, the Alous totaled 17,473 at bats and 5,094 big league hits covering games, good for a .292 average. Their hit total remains the highest for any big league-playing brother trio.
Together they had many highlights. Matty won the 1966 batting title with Felipe finishing second. Jesus earned two World Series rings with the Oakland A’s. They remain the only sibling trio to appear in the same game together, a feat the accomplished 8 times.
Shown here is a supplemental contract that calls for Jesus Alou to have a room all to himself for A’s road games during the 1974 championship season. The document is signed by Alou, A’s owner Charles O. Finley, and American League president Lee MacPhail.
