Family Ties - Part I

By Evan Pritchard
Posted Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Was Moises Alou destined to become a Met?

Mets fans want more than to be “Sub-Champions of the National League.” We want a World Series pennant we can flash, as we drive by cars with Yankee junk plastered all over them. (As opposed to Mets junk, of course). But how do we get to that promised land given the fact that we’re short on veteran pitching and great World Series quality starting pitchers are not available on EBay, at your local mall, or at any price, for that matter?

The answer is, an even stronger batting lineup. Omar Minaya has made a master chess move (now the favorite past time of the Mets players by the way) that the media has almost completely ignored, and it could bring the NL pennant to New York. Minaya delivered The Dominican Prince, Moises Rojas Alou, to play left field for the Mets, and bat sixth behind David Wright, or fifth behind Delgado, depending on who you ask.

If Alou’s ankle gets injured, which is his weakness, his 7.5 million dollar one year contract will be worth about as much as a Yankee year book to a Red Sox fan and usable for the same practical purpose. (After buying raw fish at Fanuel Hall, that is) But if he’s healthy, he will prove to be the jewel in the crown; a terrifying follow-up hitter behind either David Wright or Delgado, forcing pitchers to square off with the Mets’ RBI stars, with Reyes on the bases, we hope. This is one thing could very well make the difference between Sub-champion and World Champion this October.

This move is filled with, shall I say “cosmic” symbolic significance for Omar Minaya, to whom Alou (meaning “bird”) is “the Lost Dauphine,” the “missing link,” the one man who can truly unite this team. Next week I will follow up with more about why Moises was destined to be a Met, and the practical benefits that Moises brings to the team.

But first, let me state the obvious, that the Mets have more players born in the Dominican Republic than any other team, nine. The Mets also have nine born in Puerto Rico, and most others were born in the U.S. Who better to unite them than a Dominican hero born in the US? This Atlanta-born slugger means as much to the Dominican people as Juan Marichal or anyone else, because his father was the “Jackie Robinson of Dominican Baseball,” Felilpe Alou.

It was Felipe who blazed the trail that GM Omar Minaya would follow his entire career. It was “King” Felipe who established the “Royal Family of Baseball” in the 1960s, the Alou Brothers Inc., Felipe, Matty, and Jesus, and helped bring the Dominican Republic, as a nation, out of poverty. His struggle for equality and respect opened the door for no less than 396 major league Dominican baseball players so far, many of them earning $5 million a year or more as we speak. There are more now than ever before, and many of them were discovered by Omar Minaya, spotted in some cases as teenagers living in utter poverty in remote areas of the island that the republic shares with war-torn Haiti.

Omar Minaya was the head scout for the Mets for the region of the Dominican Republic since the mid-nineties. He discovered Pedro Martinez, Sammy Sosa, Melvin Mora, Juan Gonzalez, Fernando Tatis, Timo Perez, and many, many others. According to my estimates, at least 10% of all major leaguers today have Dominican ancestry. You can argue the details, but the very fact that a country the size of Nova Scotia, with a population slightly less than that of the state of Georgia, where Moises was born, has been able to contribute such a great deal to this game, tells you something about the people and their love for baseball.

There have been many “sons of destiny” in baseball, Ken Griffey Junior, Dale Berra, Bret Boone, Sandy Alomar, Jr., etc. But few father-son relationships have the “daytime drama” of that between Moises and his father Felipe Alou. And much of it connects back to the Mets, as if Moises had an appointment with Met destiny all along.

Born in desperate poverty in Bajos de Haina, DR on May 12th, 1935, Felipe made a last-minute switch from track and field to baseball in the Pan American games, and played so well, the Dominican team won the gold medal. That was a turning point not only for Felipe, but for the future of sports. He signed with the New York Giants in November of 1955 for a meager $200. Felipe made his ground-breaking debut in 1958 and was an All Star by 1962, when he batted .316 with 98 RBIs for one of the best Giants’ teams ever.

His younger brother Matty had already made the team two years earlier, and joined him in the World Series that year against the Yankees. Juan Marichal, (one of the few Dominicans in the major leagues at that point not named Alou,) made his post-season debut in the fourth game. Younger brother Jesus made his debut with the Giants the year after. Felipe broke the 200 hit barrier two different seasons and hit 206 lifetime homers along with 2101 hits, 107 stolen bases, 985 runs scored, 359 doubles, 49 triples, 852 RBIs, and a lifetime .286 batting average. Whew! He subsequently managed two prominent major league teams.

Felipe, Matty, and Jesus all played together for the first time in the only all-brother outfield in baseball history on September 22nd, 1963. And with that, the Dominican Republic had arrived as a major force in major league baseball. That opened the door for future Mets Anderson Hernandez, Julio Franco, Victor Diaz, Juan Padilla, Ramon Castro, Jose Lima, Duaner Sanchez, Pedro Martinez, Guillermo Mota, Jose Reyes, Jorge Sosa and Ambiorix Burgos, (including former Mets Armando Benitez and Jose Offerman) to name a few of the many great Mets’ Dominican stars. Albert Pujols, and Ramon Ortiz, are other stars that were born in the Dominican Republic and Endy Chavez, though born in Venezuela, played in the Dominican League.

This trend has perhaps reached a climax with this year’s 2007 Mets, a team that, with the addition of Moises Alou, is almost completely dominated by Dominican or Puerto Rican names even if some were not born there. (Beltran and Delgado are common Dominican names, but they were not born there).

Felipe was with the Giants from 1958 (the year Matty started in the Giants’ farm system, and the year Orlando Cepeda became the first Puerto Rican-born player in the bigs) through 1963. Matty was with the Giants from 1960 to 1965, and Jesus was with the Giants from 1963 through 1968. But, for the Giants’ organization, it wasn’t just about family values. In 1961 for example, Matty batted .310, in 1962 Felipe batted .318, (while Matty batted .292.) and in 1965 Jesus batted .298. Mommy Alou must have been happy with those kinds of report cards.

In 1962, Felipe, Matty and the Giants faced off against one of the greatest Yankee teams in the World Series, after a three-game playoff versus the Dodgers (Felipe had 7 homers in 68 lifetime at bats versus Sandy Koufax) and it was a heated battle. The Giants had a better ERA, better batting average, and more doubles, triples, and homers than the Yankees, and won more games, but the Yankees held on through seven games.

Felipe Alou tied up Game One 2-2 in the third on a single off Whitey Ford, but the Yankees won that one in the end, 6-2. The seventh game went to the bottom of the ninth in San Francisco, with the Yankees clinging to a 1-0 lead. Matty Alou, pinch hitting, bunt for a base hit, then Yanks’ pitcher Bill Terry struck out brother Felipe Alou and then Hiller. Mays doubled and Matty, correctly gauging the arm of Roger Maris, stopped at third. Some say he should have tried to tie it up, but he had no chance. Terry decided to pitch to McCovey rather than face Puerto Rico’s Orlando Cepeda with the bases loaded, and he hit a famous sinking liner to Bobby Richardson to end the game and the series, stranding the tying run, Matty Alou, at third. Ironically, Felipe and Matty would both play together for those same Yankees many years later.

One of father Felipe’s most memorable years was in 1966 with the Atlanta Braves. That year he came to bat 666 times, (leading the league in at-bats) scored a league-leading 122 runs, with a league leading 218 hits, (Matty had 231 base hits three years later, one of only four times the mark was passed in the NL the rest of that century) 32 doubles (fourth in the league), 6 triples, and 31 homers, (8th in the NL) with 74 RBIs and a scorching .327 batting average, (2nd in the NL) matched by an amazing .533 slugging percentage (9th in the league). .The only reason Felipe did not win the NL batting title was because his brother Matty beat him to it, with a stunning .342 batting average with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

On July 3rd of that memorable year, Felipe and his wife, living in Atlanta, gave birth to a son, whom they named Moises. The circumstances surrounding his birth are of course, miraculous.

Felipe had beaten the league-leading Giants (his former teammates) 3-1 the day before his wife was to deliver Moises into the world with a two-run homer in the tenth inning in San Francisco, topping off a 4 for 5 day, falling a triple short of the cycle. Atlanta’s Joe Torre had hit a homer for the first run of the game in the seventh, but Mays and McCovey had combined efforts to tie it up for the Giants. Oddly, Felipe’s brother (and Moises’ future uncle by a day) Jesus had a double for the Giants in that game but did not score.

That brother, Jesus Alou, by the way, became a Met on April 12th, 1975 and played off the bench that entire season, batting .265. One of his teammates with the Mets was Joe Torre.

The third of July, 1966, was an off day for the Braves, and I am still looking for any shred of evidence that father Felipe was or wasn’t present for the delivery. Felipe’s extra-inning blast in California must have been hit after midnight, Atlanta time, in other words, on July 3rd itself, Moises’ birthday. Father Felipe was in Houston the following morning, July 4th, as the Braves defeated the Astros 3-2 in a day game. New father Felipe Alou started the 1PM game off with a single, then Hank Aaron hit a double, then Alou scored on pioneering Dominican player Rico Carty’s sac fly. Hank Aaron stole third and scored on Joe Torres’ double. A Houston run scored on a wild throw by Felipe Alou from first. A 22 years-young Rusty Staub, future Met star, was playing on the Astros, who were playing in the newly christened Astrodome, and went 0-4.

Joe Torre, future Yankee skipper, also had a triple and scored a run. Joe Torre by the way, was one of the three guys to top Felipe’s 218 hit mark in the NL (in the remaining 20th Century), other than brother Matty Alou, cracking 230 hits for the Cards in 1971, the same year Ralph Garr got 219 for the Braves. Pete Rose matched Joe two years later, for the Reds, and that was it. (Tony Gwynn tied but did not pass it in 1987 for the Padres).

Moises’ timing was excellent, born on a travel date, as if trying to get his father’s attention, but it was ill-fated. It was impossible for his father to get from San Francisco to Atlanta to Houston in those days in only 30 hours, especially not knowing when the birth would take place. The marriage ended in a much-written about divorce, so Moises grew up with his mother, Austria, rarely seeing his dad.

Ironically, Moises hit his 300th homer on his mother’s birthday, April 13th, 2006, in a game against the Astros. Sadly, like his father 40 years earlier, she was not able to be present for the blessed event. Fortunately, his father was in a Giants’ uniform that day, as his manager. He chased down the home run ball, and gave him the lineup card as well as the bat as a souvenir. As Alou crossed home plate he was hugged by the bat boy…who happened to be his son Moises Jr. and shook his 70 year old father’s hand. His two other children were in the stands with his wife, who lives in the Dominican Republic. It was his third homer in four games, and he became the first Giant player to pass 300 homers since Barry Bonds did it in 1996.

Almost immediately after Moises was born, Felipe was named as first baseman for the National League All Star team, and suited up on a 105 degree day in St. Louis, July 12th, 1966, but did not play. His only previous trip to the All Star Game had been in 1962.

In 1967, Felipe batted .274 for the Braves. The following year, 1968, he hit .317. Both Felipe and Matty appeared together on the NL lineup in the 1968 All Star Game, played at the Astrodome, the first indoor All Star Game, with Felipe representing the Braves and Matty representing Pittsburgh.

Towards the end of 1968, Jesus, the only remaining Alou Giant, was slumping at the plate, (.263) so the Giants brought in a promising young rookie to replace him sometimes in right field. The boy was a center fielder, but could not match the skills of Willie Mays, so they thought to use him to back up Alou. The boy’s name was Bobby Bonds, already a father of a two-year-old boy, Barry, and thinking he should make a name for himself in the majors in order to help his struggling family, Bobby hit a grand slam on his third at-bat in a game against….of course, the New York Mets. He was the only player in the 20th century to make his first major league hit a granny. That led to Jesus being traded to the Houston Astros the following year, ending the eleven year dynasty of the Alou “Royal Family” in Frisco. That two year old boy grew up (some would say with suspicious speed) to be another Giants’ outfielder, and during his most troubled years, Felipe Alou was his manager! In fact, to add to the coincidence, Moises Alou was hired to play right field in 2005 for his father’s Giants, but Bonds was injured most of the year, and so he played left field, replacing the son of the man who replaced his uncle in the Giants outfield!

In 1969, Bobby Bonds led the league in runs and strikeouts, and Felipe had a good year as well, and had a hand in the playoffs. Moises was three years old. The Mets had just won 38 of the last 49 games, but the Braves had won 27 of the last 38. Sports buffs were worried that the left handed Koosman would have trouble against the righthander Alou, but Alou did little to help the Mets at the plate, and was 0-1 as a pinch-hitter in the last game, which helped the Mets win 7-4, securing their first National League Pennant.

In 1970, Felipe was traded to the Athletics and batted .271. The following year he was traded mid-season to the Yankees totaling .288 between the two. Matty joined Felipe as a Yankee in 1972 and ’73 and the two Alou brothers who had played against the Yanks in the 1962 World Series, were now playing with them, as part of a lineup that included Craig Nettles, Thurmon Munson, Sparky Lyle, Mel Stottlemeyer, and others. The Alou brothers moved on before 1974, but Nettles, Munson, Lyle, Mercer, Stottlemeyer and others continued to play for the Yankees until joined in 1976 by Willie Randolph…the man who now manages the Mets.

In 1972, Felipe batted .278 for the Yankees; in 1973 he batted .236 for New York and was traded midseason to Montreal, where he later became Manager of the Year. He visited the Brewers (then in the AL) for three games in 1974 and called it quits. He then became a coach within the Expos system, training a number of future diamond greats. Between 1992 and 2001, Felipe managed future Mets Cliff Floyd, Pedro Martinez, Tony Tarasco, Mel Rojas, and of course, his own son, Moises Alou, who is now the newest Met.
 

Evan Pritchard is the creator of http://Amazine1.blogspot.com and author of a book on the 2006 Mets, soon to be available via this website. He can be reached at rezman7777@earthlink.net.