Felipe Alou was a God send to the Giants
Talking about unpredictable stories !
The San Francisco Giants replaced
popular manager Dusty Baker with
(in my opinion) the man they needed
in “life-after-Dusty,” Felipe Alou.
Brian Sabean, again, worked his
magic as General Manager of the
San Francisco Giants.
By Amaury Pi-GonzálezI have known Felipe Alou since 1970
and 1971 when he played for the
Oakland Athletics. I also remember
him as a player with the San
Francisco Giants in the 1960’s, as
a kid living in Florida and going to
school and following baseball, I knew
that he was a good player, as well
as his brothers Jesús and Mateo.
When I arrived from Cuba as
a 17 year old in Miami I remember
watching the Game of The Week
on television and following some
of the great Latino stars, from
Clemente to Minñoso to the Alou’s.
Last time I spoke with Felipe he
was a bench coach with the Detroit
Tigers, that was just this past summer.
At that time managing was not really
his priority. He was hired by the
Tigers as a “baseball brain”to
help like on-the-job-train Detroit
manager Luis Pujols.
Felipe Alou started his professional
baseball career in 1956 with Lake
Charles and in 1958 he made it
to the show with the San Francisco
Giants.
His first bout as a manager was
when he was a player in the
Dominican Republic , when the
manager of the team left,
management appointed Felipe
to manage that team since he
was the only player with Major
League experience on the team.
In 1992 Felipe Alou got the break
of his life to manage a major
league ballclub with the Montreal
Expos.
Among all foreign born managers
Felipe Alou with 691-717 .491
percentage is number two,
behind Harry Wright’s 1,225-885
who was born in England. Wright
managed from 1871 to 1877
in the major leagues.
Felipe managed for 10 years
with the Expos. In 1994 his
team had the best record in
baseball, 74-40 but the season
ended because of a strike.
For the first five years he had
good talent and started to
build a great team, with the
likes of Pedro MartÃÂÂnez,Larry
Walker and others. But then
the Expos lost a lot of their
stars to other teams and the
last 5 years for Felipe in Montreal
were really hell.
During those last five years, Felipe
always reminded me of a
4th grade teacher that has a
new class each year, new players
young with little experience, but
Felipe always showed his great
patience(he has to, he likes fishing)
as he lead players like Guerrero,
and Vidro to develop into
stardom in Montreal.
Alou is one of eight men from
Latin America to manage in
the Major Leagues. And at
this time only the second
among 30 MLB teams, the
other is also Dominican Tony
Peña with the Kansas City
Royals.
If you are going to go out
for lunch and Felipe tells
you” …”12:30 at the lobby”
you better be there at
12:30. He loves discipline,
he is as formal as a baseball
man you will see, but at the
same time very humble.
A good friend asked me what
kind of manager is Felipe
Alou. This is what I told him:
Felipe always plays funda-
mental baseball, he likes
discipline, he is a teacher
of baseball, he has the
patience for young players
and is very good developing
young talent and he lets the
veterans play to their potential.
But he will set the rules in the
dogout. He is no pushover.
He is one of the very best
I have seen judging talent
and has a great “touch”on
when to take or no to take a
pitcher out of the game.
Above doesn’t mean he is going
to go 162-0 next season, but do
not be surprised If he wins the
Division and takes the team into
the playoffs.
After the P.R. disaster between the
Giants executive suits and Dusty
Baker, the ONE man the Giants
needed was Felipe Alou. And they
got him !
Brian Sabean says he didn’t interview
anybody else. Felipe Alou said that
one of the reasons he signed with
the Giants (aside from the sentimental
one of returning to the city where he
became a star)was that the Giants
told him they are continuing their
commitment to winning in San
Francisco and the trip to the
World Series is something they
would like to repeat…soon.
Well, it is imposible to tell you
if Alou will take the Giants to
the promised land. Dusty came
within 2 innings and had to settle
for the National League Pennant.
The Giants have some holes they
have to fill. Second base, third
base, outfielders,pitching? They
all figure in what kind of team
Felipe will have in Arizona come
February 2003. We will have
to wait.
But If you like a “no nonsense”
type of manager that will talk
to media and fans after each
game, that can take criticism and
have nothing to prove to anybody,
Felipe Alou is your man.
Felipe is 67 years old. He is the
oldest manager in the Major
Leagues, but he still has that
passion for the game, that
desire to win in the field and
those great skills of communicator
(in two languages)the languages
of baseball: English and Spanish.
I for one, never expected Felipe
to manage again. I was very much
surprised by the Giants ability
to get Felipe Alou. Call it luck,
call it destiny but whatever you
call it it comes down to be a
much needed positive for the
San Francisco Giants. Specially
after the way the team and
Baker parted ways…
With Felipe Alou you can expect
the unexpected in many game
situations. He is that type of
manager, he manages with
tremendous knowledge confidence
but also by a lot of instinct. There
are schools for baseball players,
instructional leagues, schools
for umpires. But there are no
schools for managers, but If I
started a Managing School I
would hire Felipe Alou as my
chief instructor in a Dominican
second.
Giants fans, you are the luckiest
fans in the world. After Life With
Dusty, what do you get ? Life
with Felipe !
How lucky can you get.
I hope we can do a pre-game
show in Spanish on KZSF 1370AM
with Felipe Alou prior to each
game of the season and the
moment he was announced as
Giants manager, that train”plan”
was already leaving the station.
Let’s hope the Giants can give
Felipe a good team and then let’s
sit back and watch a manager’s
manager manage a team.
———————————————————–
Amaury Pi-González just concluded
his eight season as the Spanish
Radio paly by Play announcer for
the S.F Giants. Slated to call in
English the Caribbean World Series
2003 that will be held in the first
week of February in San Juan,
Puerto Rico for Fox Sports.
Amaury was recently selected to
be in the 2003 Marquis Who’s Who
in America book.
His articles are also featured in
www.latinobaseball.com.
Amaury is host of the weekly
program Sports Radio Talk on
KEST 1450 AM San Francisco
and KSFX in San José.With
Sports Radio Service.
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