#263 Felipe Alou

Dominican hero, a trailblazer….not the first MLB player from the country but the first to be born and raised from there….debut with the recently moved  San Francisco Giants…held his own but playing was gradually acquired…production increased accordingly….reached his prime in 1961 received all star nod in 1962….around this time was accompanied by brothers Matty and Jesus…Felipe was a different player; stronger more power (3xs more) than his siblings combined….was traded to Braves before 1964 season…one bright spot for the few Milwaukee fans who knew of the move to Atlanta….upon arrival south, embarked on his career year, taking advantage of the close confines of Atlanta Stadium….led NL in runs, total bases, and hits, second in BA….chipped in 31 of the Braves 207 home runs… evolved into a line drive style hitter and reprised himself as one of the top NL hitters, leading the circuit in 1968…. never found the offensive numbers again but remained a regular for several years….handed around returning to the bay area with Oakland, then Yankees a year after….skills started diminish in 1973….placed on waivers and picked up by the Expos…finished as player with 3 at bats in Milwaukee, 1974…returned baseball as manager a couple years later….moving up and down different levels of ball….all within  the Montreal chain…got his big league chance 1992 as the franchise was moving up….Skippered one of best teams never to have made the playoffs 1994 Montreal Expos….won manager of the year award in the season of no champion….subsequent  years were not as kind…reached 100 win with Giants in 2003…managed 3 more years….Very respected figure in baseball world….fathered 11 children.