Jesús Alou, who left his mark with the Giants and the As and as a member of one of baseball’s most famous families, died on Friday. Alou would have turned 81 later this month.
Alou helped make history with the Giants on Sept. 15, 1963 when he and older brothers Felipe and Matty appeared together in the same outfield. The brothers never started in the same game — Felipe was the Giants’ regular right fielder, Matty was primarily a defensive replacement, and Jesús, the youngest of the trio, was a 21-year-old call-up who wasn’t going to crack an outfield that had Willie Mays in center field and Willie McCovey in left.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA – MARCH 17: San Francisco Giants outfielder Jesus Alou poses with his baseball on March 27, 1965 at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium in Arizona. (Tommy McDonough/Oakland Tribune)
In a statement, the Giants said, “Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences go to the Alou family, his friends and all those whose lives he touched.” The A’s added on Twitter that they were “heartbroken” by Alou’s passing and that he “will forever be a member of the A’s family.”
The Dominican Republic-born Alous were in the outfield together in the late innings of two more games, and played in the same game eight times in all for the Giants that season. The Alou outfield was broken up when Felipe was traded to Milwaukee Braves that winter.
Jesús spent the first six seasons of his 15-year career in the majors with the Giants. He returned to the Bay Area with the A’s late in the 1973 season and hit .306 down the stretch and helped Oakland win its second straight World Series title. He and the A’s won the Series again in 1974.
ESPN’s Enrique Rojas was the first to report Jesús’ death. He had been a scout with the Red Sox since 2002, and the team confirmed the news via Twitter on Friday afternoon. The post read, “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Jesús Alou. A 2x World Series champion, with over 60 years in baseball as a player, coach, scout, & ambassador, Jay was the patriarch of the Red Sox Dominican Academy & Lindos Sueños, bringing together communities within Red Sox Nation.”
Rojas wrote that Jesús had recently suffered two “cardiovascular accidents”, but was not known to be dealing with a “serious illness.” Matty, the middle Alou brother, died in 2011 at the age of 72. Felipe, the former Giants manager, turns 88 in May.
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – AUGUST 16: Oakland Athletics designated hitter Jesus Alou flips his bat on deck at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum August 16, 1974 during a game against the Detroit Tigers. (Kenneth Green/Oakland Tribune)
Jesús was a career .280 hitter with 32 home runs and 31 stolen bases with the Giants, Astros, A’s and the Mets. He was picked by the Montreal Expos in the 1968 expansion draft, but was traded to the Astros with Donn Clendenon for Rusty Staub.
The Alous are still the only brothers to play all the outfield spots during the same major league game. Felipe played all three outfield positions in that game, a 13-5 win over the Pirates at Forbes Field. Jesús took over for McCovey in the bottom of the seventh inning and played in right field, sending his oldest brother to left. Matty came in for Mays an inning later and played left, shifting Felipe to center.
Jesús made his big league debut five days before he joined his brothers in the same outfield, but they made history in that game too: the Alous batted consecutively in the eighth inning against the Mets, with Jesús and Matty pinch-hitting before Felipe’s spot came up. They went a combined 0 for 3 — Jesús and Felipe grounded out and Matty struck out — against Carlton Willey.
Jesús received the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame Pioneer Award in 2008.
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS PHOTOGRAPH BY GARY REYES–04/07/2003 GIANTS V. PADRES The Alou brothers, Felipe, Jesus and Matty throw the first pitch on Opening Day on April 7, 2003. The Giants defeated the Padres, 7-4.
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