Alou

by Felipe Alou

  And finally, thank you to my God Jehovah for his love and for the gift of sending his son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. I am aware of Jehovah’s blessings every day, and I know that without him I am nothing.

  Felipe Alou

  I first met Felipe Alou at a spring training game. He was managing the Montreal Expos, and I was a local newspaper columnist. Before the game I approached him behind the batting cage at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Florida. I asked Felipe if he remembered starting his professional playing career as a Minor Leaguer several miles away in Cocoa.

  Remember? Felipe rewound his mind forty-four years and remembered everything—his batting average, how many home runs he hit, how many bases he stole, the street he lived on, the family he stayed with, and even the fishing holes he dropped his line in.

  We talked . . . and talked and talked and talked. He told me stories of what it was like to be a skinny kid from the Dominican Republic with the wrong skin color for 1956 America, about how being black and Latino put him in an automatic 0-2 hole. He was thoughtful and philosophical, telling me stories rich in detail and insight. I didn’t want the conversation to end, but Felipe needed to manage his Expos against the Florida Marlins and I had a deadline to meet.

  Fast-forward eleven years from that March afternoon in 2000 to August 12, 2011. I’d been laid off the day before and was sitting in the visiting manager’s office at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium, talking to my friend Bruce Bochy, the San Francisco Giants’ manager. Bruce was upset for me and for what our hometown paper had done. I told him it was okay, that I was going to be okay.

  “What are you going to do?” he asked.

  “I have ideas,” I said. “You know, I’ve always had it in my mind that I’d like to write Felipe Alou’s autobiography. He has all the ingredients a writer looks for in a great book.”

  Bruce stared at me for a few seconds. “You know he’s here,” he said.

  “Here?”

  “Yeah, he’s here. Felipe works for the Giants, and he lives in South Florida. He’s here at the game. You want me to talk to him?”

  “Sure.”

  As I was sitting in the stands, about fifteen minutes before the game was to start, I got a ping notifying me of a text message. It was Bruce.

  I talked to Felipe. He’s interested.

  And so began four years of back-and-forth. Felipe was going to do the book. Then he decided against doing the book. There were letters and phone calls. Hope and despair. The yes and no went back and forth so many times that I wrote two books in the interim and eventually gave up on doing a book with Felipe.

  After the 2015 baseball season ended Bochy and I were chatting on the phone, and he casually asked me how things were going with Felipe.

  “I’ve given up on that,” I said.

  “What?” he exclaimed, surprised.

  “Bruce, he tells he’ll do it, and then he changes his mind. I’ve given up.”

  “Let me talk to him,” he said. “Don’t give up just yet.”

  A few days later my phone rang. It was Felipe. “I’m going to do the book,” he said. “I know I’ve told you that many times before, but I promise you this time I won’t change my mind.”

  I drove to Felipe’s home in Boynton Beach, Florida, and we spent the afternoon just talking . . . and talking and talking and talking. I didn’t pull out a recorder. I didn’t take any notes. We just talked. Shortly after, I wrote a book proposal and contacted my agent, tasking him with the job of finding a publisher. What you have in your hands is the result.

  So when I think about people to thank, top of the list is Felipe Alou. I know this project worried him, and I know why. He is a man used to being in control, in charge. Putting his words and thoughts and life into the hands of another man was not easy for him. So thank you, Felipe, for entrusting me with your incredible story. And thank you for the friendship we forged that extends beyond the book. I enjoyed all the stimulating conversations. It was fascinating to see how Felipe’s mind unraveled complicated subjects. You need not be around him too long to know he’s always thinking, and thinking deeply. And when he talks, you don’t want to miss a word he says. As the great relief pitcher John Wetteland aptly told Sports Illustrated about Felipe, “He speaks in parables.”

  Many nights Felipe and I stayed up late, talking about Jehovah God, the Bible, religion, world events, politics, philosophy, baseball, family, relationships. And I could tell Felipe enjoyed our dialogue and even our debates as much as I did, because oftentimes he would signal in his own way that we were done working and now it was time for conversing. Or sometimes, before we even began working, we would have a conversation that before we realized it stretched into an hour or two. That’s something only close friends do, and I don’t use those words loosely.

  I was sitting with Felipe when he called Reggie Jackson and asked him to provide an endorsement blurb for the book. Felipe introduced me to Reggie by saying, “My friend here is writing my book . . .” Hearing him introduce me that way, with the words “my friend,” meant a lot. So did the words of his daughter Maria, Moisés’s big sister, who one day told me I’ve bonded with her dad in ways few people do. I treasure that.

  After Felipe, a thank-you goes to my agent, Robert Wilson, for believing in this book from day one and for tirelessly working on getting a publisher to believe in it, too. Which leads me to another person I need to thank—my editor Rob Taylor. Thank you, Rob, for your faith in me and this book and for your patience with the manuscript. I knew when I handed it off to you that it was in more than capable hands. Thank you also to others whose hands touched this manuscript through the process of getting it published—Courtney Ochsner, Sara Springsteen, and Annette Wenda.

  Special thanks to Felipe’s wife, Lucie Alou, and his children, who encouraged him to write this book. And to Bruce Bochy, who gave Felipe that final push over the finish line, telling him not only that he needed to do a book, but that I was the writer he needed to do it with. If not for the family’s encouragement and Bruce’s endorsement, this project never would have happened.

  Thank you, too, to Lucie and Felipe Alou Jr.—a.k.a. Felipito—for the great food and strong coffee that sustained Felipe and me through long working days and nights.

  Thank you Maria Rojas and Alvino Jimenez, the spiritual sister and brother I didn’t know I had. Maria, I appreciated your hospitality, the insights on your father, and your prayers.

  Thank you Teresa Rojas, Matty Alou’s daughter, who helped find family photos, and for the tireless efforts of Moisés Alou’s wife, Austria. A special thank-you to Suzanna Mitchell with the San Francisco Giants for her invaluable help with getting photos and also to Matt Chisholm, the Giants’ director of baseball information. Another special thank-you to Gilles Corbeil for coming through with photos from the Montreal Expos years. You were a lifesaver. Thank you in a big way to Sami Mized for scanning and digitizing photos and getting them just right.

  Thank you Tony La Russa for eagerly reading an unedited and unfinished manuscript and then providing a jolt of positive and enthusiastic feedback. Writing is such an insecure profession, and that type of response from someone who knows his way around words told me I was headed in the right direction.

  One day Felipe got a phone call from Moisés, telling him that he’s been hearing about the book and that it’s going to be great.

  “Where have you been hearing that from?” Felipe asked.

  “Tony La Russa has been telling everybody,” Moisés replied.

  So thank you again, Tony, and thank you for your official endorsement blurb for the back of the book. And also to Joe Torre, Buck Showalter, Reggie Jackson, Bob Costas, and Tom Verducci, the best baseball writer of my generation and any other generation, for that matter.

  Thank you Pedro Martínez for writing such an insightful and moving foreword. It perfectly set the tone for the book. And thank you also to your lovely wife, Carolina, for facilitating everything.

  Thank you to colleagues Go
rdon Edes, Gerry Fraley, and Peter Schmuck for helping connect me with people I needed to connect with when I was hitting a dead end on my own. Also, a special thank you to Bill Madden, who enthusiastically connected me with his agent, who is now my agent too.

  Thank you Ernie Rosseau for your friendship and feedback on the manuscript. Your energy is always infectious.

  Thank you to Erik and Nathalie Bailey, Randy and Cindy Sturdevant, and Ben and Jen Woodruff for providing me a home away from home all those times when I needed one.

  Thank you to my mother, Helene Kerasotis, who kept insisting I take her credit card and fill my car with gas or get a hotel room for a night or two when I needed to be where Felipe was to continue moving the project forward. Mom, your love and support never waver. They’re always there, yet I never take them for granted.

  And finally, thank you to my beautiful wife, Shelley, for her love, for all the sacrifices she made, and for her own hard work on this book. Projects like this are a team effort, and Shelley’s frontline editing, fact-checking, and feedback were invaluable. Shelley, all I can pay you with is my love.

  Peter Kerasotis

  Chronology

  Player

  1955Signed with New York Giants in December.

  1956Lake Charles (Louisiana) Giants in Class C Evangeline League and Cocoa (Florida) Indians in Class D Florida State League.

  1957Minneapolis (Minnesota) Millers in Class Triple-A American Association and Springfield (Massachusetts) Giants in Class A Eastern League.

  1958Phoenix (Arizona) Giants in Class Triple-A Pacific Coast League and San Francisco Giants.

  1959San Francisco Giants.

  1960San Francisco Giants.

  1961San Francisco Giants.

  1962San Francisco Giants.

  1963San Francisco Giants.

  1964Milwaukee Braves.

  1965Milwaukee Braves.

  1966Atlanta Braves.

  1967Atlanta Braves.

  1968Atlanta Braves.

  1969Atlanta Braves.

  1970Oakland A’s.

  1971Oakland A’s and New York Yankees.

  1972New York Yankees.

  1973New York Yankees and Montreal Expos.

  1974Milwaukee Brewers.

  Coach and Manager

  1976Special instructor for Montreal Expos.

  1977Managed West Palm Beach Expos in Class A Florida State League.

  1978Managed Memphis Chicks in Class Double-A Southern League.

  1979Montreal Expos third base coach for Dick Williams.

  1980Montreal Expos first base coach for Dick Williams.

  1981Managed Denver Bears in Class Triple-A American Association.

  1982Managed Wichita Aeros in Class Triple-A American Association.

  1983Managed Wichita Aeros in Class Triple-A American Association.

  1984Montreal Expos first base coach for Bill Virdon.

  1985Managed Indianapolis Indians in Class Triple-A American Association.

  1986Managed West Palm Beach Expos in Class A Florida State League.

  1987Managed West Palm Beach Expos in Class A Florida State League.

  1988Managed West Palm Beach Expos in Class A Florida State League.

  1989Managed West Palm Beach Expos in Class A Florida State League.

  1990Managed West Palm Beach Expos in Class A Florida State League.

  1991Managed West Palm Beach Expos in Class A Florida State League.

  1992Bench coach then manager of Montreal Expos, replacing Tom Runnells.

  1993Montreal Expos manager.

  1994Montreal Expos manager.

  1995Montreal Expos manager.

  1996Montreal Expos manager.

  1997Montreal Expos manager.

  1998Montreal Expos manager.

  1999Montreal Expos manager.

  2000Montreal Expos manager.

  2001Montreal Expos manager.

  2002Detroit Tigers bench coach for Luis Pujols.

  2003San Francisco Giants manager.

  2004San Francisco Giants manager.

  2005San Francisco Giants manager.

  2006San Francisco Giants manager.

  2007San Francisco Giants special assistant to Brian Sabean.

  2008San Francisco Giants special assistant to Brian Sabean.

  2009San Francisco Giants special assistant to Brian Sabean; managed the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic.

  2010San Francisco Giants special assistant to Brian Sabean.

  2011San Francisco Giants special assistant to Brian Sabean.

  2012San Francisco Giants special assistant to Brian Sabean.

  2013San Francisco Giants special Assistant to Brian Sabean.

  2014San Francisco Giants special assistant to Brian Sabean.

  2015San Francisco Giants special assistant to Brian Sabean.

  2016San Francisco Giants special assistant to Bobby Evans.

  2017San Francisco Giants special assistant to Bobby Evans.

  2018San Francisco Giants special assistant to Bobby Evans.

  About the Authors

  About Felipe Alou

  Felipe Alou serves as the special assistant to the general manager for the San Francisco Giants. He is an inductee in both the Canadian and the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame and lives with his wife, Lucie, in Boynton Beach, Florida.

  About Peter Kerasotis

  Peter Kerasotis is an author and journalist who has won ten Associated Press Sports Editor awards, six Football Writers Association of America awards, and seven Florida Sports Writers Association awards.

  About Pedro Martínez

  Pedro Martínez is a Hall of Fame pitcher and fellow Dominican.

  1. The humble home at Kilometer 12 in the Dominican Republic where my father, José Rojas, grew up. From him came five Major League ballplayers—three sons and two grandsons. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  2. This is a painting of my parents’ home where I and five siblings grew up. It’s also at Kilometer 12, about a half mile from my father’s boyhood home. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  3. With my older sister Maria Magdalena at my Catholic confirmation. I was about ten or eleven years old. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  4. My mother, Virginia Alou de Rojas, as a young woman. She gave birth to three Major League ballplayers. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  5. My father and my brother Matty sometime in the early 1960s. Every year I’d bring my father a hat from the United States, and he would wear it proudly. Both literally and figuratively, he was a man who wore many hats. Courtesy of Teresa “Tity” Rojas.

  6. My firstborn daughter, Maria, and my firstborn son, Felipe, who tragically died in a swimming pool accident. I fainted when I was told the horrible news of his death. Courtesy of Maria Rojas.

  7. At my wedding to my first wife, Maria, who is the mother of Moisés Alou. To my right are my parents, José and Virginia Rojas. I entered Major League Baseball as the son of interracial parents almost forty years before Derek Jeter. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  8. Sitting on Haina Beach, where my friends and I would swim naked when we were boys. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  9. Enjoying a special dinner. In the middle is my father. To his right are Matty and his wife, Teresa. Maria and I are to his left. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  10. Sitting next to the baby carriage of my firstborn son, Felipe, who died as a teenager. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  11. As a proud young player for the San Francisco Giants. Courtesy of the San Francisco Giants.

  12. The photographer asked Matty and me to jump for this Giants publicity photo. Courtesy of the San Francisco Giants.

  13. Standing between my friends and former teammates Willie McCovey and Willie Mays. McCovey and I once bought a car together in the Minor Leagues. Courtesy of the San Francisco Giants.

  14. In the clubhouse with Willie Mays and my old roommate Orlando Cepeda, who is threatening to plant a kiss on May
s. Courtesy of the San Francisco Giants.

  15. My brother Jesús played in his first Major League game on September 10 at New York’s Shea Stadium. This photo was likely taken the next day, showing the four Dominicans on the Giants’ roster—Juan Marichal, me, Matty, and Jesús. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  16. In front of my former teammate José Pagán’s 1958 Chevrolet Delray. José taught me how to drive in that car on the streets of San Francisco. Courtesy of the Alou family.

  17. Well before my brothers and I made history by playing together in the same outfield for the San Francisco Giants, we did so many times with the Escogido Lions in the Dominican Winter League. Some of those games were managed by Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda. Courtesy of Teresa “Tity” Rojas.

  18. It looks like I connected for a home run. The follow-through tells me it was a good, level swing with the catcher, umpire, and myself looking skyward. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York.

  19. With my good friends on the Atlanta Braves—Hank Aaron to the far right and my old roommate Joe Torre in the middle. AP Photo.

  20. At the May 22, 1992, news conference when the Montreal Expos announced me as their new manager. To my right is former general manager Dan Duquette, and to my left is former president and principal owner Claude Brochu. Courtesy of Gilles Corbeil.

  21. Engaging the media after I became the first Dominican to manage in the Major Leagues. Dennis “El Presidente” Martínez pitched us to a victory that night. Courtesy of Gilles Corbeil.