“Even though I will not be the Giants manager next year, I will always be a Giant”. The first sentence on
Felipe Alou’s statement on October 1,2006 as he says goodbye after a four-year tenure as manager of the San Francisco Giants.
Felipe did as good as possible, under the circumstances.

By Amaury Pi-GonzálezBack in 2002 in Anaheim, as I was working the
Giants vs Angels World Series I ran into my all-time favorite Major League manager. Sparky
Anderson was in Anaheim working as television
commentator. I asked him as an excellent manager
he was, could he tell me how many games a good
manager can win during a particular season with
pure strategy ? His answer: “Oh boy…maybe 5…
7 maybe 8 games, not more than that”.

Sparky Anderson is the only man to have won World Series in both leagues as manager. In 1975
with the Cincinnati Reds and in 1984 with the Detroit Tigers. “Captain Hook”as he was also called because when he came out of the dougout to the
mount his arms signaling to the bullpen looked like a hook is as good of a manager as you are ever going to see.

Bill Shoemaker, Hall of Fame jockey, died in 2003.
The great Shoemaker won a total of 8,833 races
riding Thoroubread horses. But “The Shoe”(as he was called) could not have won races if his horse had a bad leg,were limping,old and tired horses; and he didn’t win under those circumstances.

The same argument can be said about baseball, in many ways managing is overrated. It is always good to have a manager that can squeeze the most out of his players. One guy that has my vote for my second favorite manager was Orioles Earl Weaver, he communicated well with his players,he got the most production from them. My number three choice would be Tony LaRussa, not because of his strategy but because he knows who to hire to help him with his job. LaRussa since he was managing the White Sox, A’S and today the Cardinals always together
with pitching guru
Dave Duncan, whom with LaRussa were the last
manager and piching coach to take the A’S to three consecutive World Series, winning 1989, the last time the A’S won it all. But again, look at the talent Tony had then. Rickey,Carney,Jose,Big Mac,Stew,
Welch,Eckersley..and so on.

Considering the team that Felipe Alou was given during the past few seasons in San Francisco and
specially this recently concluded 2006 season I think he did as well as he could have done. The Giants expected greater things from Matt Morris who they signed this past December to a lucrative
3-year deal. Morris didn’t have a good season and
Jason Schimdt a bit better but not by much.

The Bonds Winn/Finley, Moises Alou outfield the
so called AARP outfield(with exception of Randy Winn) the youngest of the other three guys is Moises at 40. Then comes Armando Benitez who
didn’t make many new friends among fans in
The City. The marvel of the senior troops is shortstop Omar Vizquel without a doubt on his way to win his 11th Gold Glove and also ‘showing up’ in 2006 with a very good bat. First base still a
big question mark. Eliezer Alfonzo got his break after spending 10 years in the minors. Alfonzo
was great, but is he going to be the #1 catcher in 2007 ?
Giants might want to go after free agent Luis
Gonzalez, he plays the outfield he bats left,
McCovey Cove is awaiting. The pipe dream for Giants fans would be to sign Alfonso Soriano or get Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins. You need an impact super star on this team. Even if Bonds is back, we all agree 2007 would be his last season.

Felipe Alou (if he doesn’t manage again) will finish with a record of 1,033-1,021. He was Manager of the Year with the Montreal Expos in 1994.
Felipe had a rough time here,he managed the Giants during the Barry Bonds never-ending-scandal-years. A manager is, after all, the face of the team and in the case of Felipe he was one face to be seen at the Giants dressing room many times. Bonds animosity with the Media cannot help any Giants manager. And Giants managers are left sometimes answering questions they do not deserve to be asked, many regarding Bonds.

Barry Bonds one of the greatest hitters I have seen would love to come back and retire with the Giants
and break Aaron’s record in San Francisco a city
where he can get a standing ovation inside a Safeway. But picture yourself as the new Giants
manager, Lou Piniella, Bob Brenly, Ron Wotus,
whomever. You are managing a team with Barry Bonds chasing the #1 professional Sports record in the country, the home run record. It cannot be easy. Often Greg Anderson, Bonds best friend since
childhood is in page one of the newspapers
hours before the Giants take the field at ATT Park.
He still in jail refusing to testify about Bonds and
steroids.

Peter Magowan loves the game and he is a Giants fan since birth,since the Giants played at the Polo Ground and he would love to see Bonds hit 756 during a perfect Sunday afternoon in a sellout
ATT Park and yes against the Dodgers.
But at what cost ? That is the question.Would Bonds take a deal like the one the Oakland A’S gave
big Frank Thomas, with a relatively small base
salary and a bunch of incentives ?

If Bonds returns as a Giant, the new manager will have to be a master of spin and if more “bad news”come out about Barry and his friends who continue to say no to the Grand Jury and do not
want to testify, this new manager has to be ready
for anything.

I met Felipe Alou towards the end of his career when he played for Oakland in the early 1970’s. I used to wait in behind the batting cage during
batting practice at the Oakland Coliseum as I was writting for El Mundo News of Oakland. Felipe was
always cordial, to me a gentleman, always with a
story to tell and that is the way I will remember
Felipe Alou as one of the Hispanic pioneer players.
The first Hispanic manager to win a substancial
amount of games a man that always had an
anecdote, a story about his playing days or managing years.

One of the anecdotes I take away from Felipe Alou
this season was back in August when Tito Avila Jr my good friend and President of The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame gave me a black and white photograph taken in the early 1960’s at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
There was a player with the Pirates uniform that
nobody could identify. I told Tito, let me take it to Felipe, since he is in the photo maybe he can tell us who that mystery guy is.

Prior to a Giants game at ATT Park,I took the framed photograph to Felipe.
On that photograph were Felipe,Matty and Jesus Alou,Roberto Clemente,Juan Marichal,Orlando Cepeda, Jose Pagan and then there was another
Hispanic player wearing a Pirates uniform. We at
the Museum could not identify him.
As I walked into Felipe’s office at ATT, Felipe was
seated on his desk,standing to his left was
Blake Rhodes, Giants Director of Media Relations,
I asked Felipe If he could recognize the “mystery
man”on the photograph wearing the Pirates uniform. I pointed to the man on the photo and
without hesitation Felipe said” “That is Diomenes
Olivo a 43-year old rookie pitcher from the Dominican Republic who just arrived from Mexico and was with the Pirates”
I remember telling him, que memoria ! What memory ! That is the way I like to remember
Felipe.
I do not think Felipe Alou will manage again, he
is very proud of have played for the Giants and
managed for the Giants. But don’t be surprised to
see Felipe scouting or working in ‘special assignments’ in Latinamerica for the San Francico
Giants.
Saludos Felipe, take care !