The Alou brothers, Felipe Alou, Matty Alou and Jesus Alou, left quite a legacy in baseball history between them with three world championships, five all-star appearances and a batting title.
Jesus was the youngest of three siblings from the Dominican Republic and early in his career his ascension to the big leagues led to a pair occurrences that may never happen again.
In his first game as a member of the San Francisco Giants, Jesus batted in the same inning as his brothers on Sept. 10, 1963.
The Giants were in New York facing the Mets at the Polo Grounds.
New York pitcher Carl Willey was on his way to a complete game 4-2 victory when he must have thought he was at an Alou family reunion in the eighth inning.
Giants manager Al Dark sent Jesus to the plate as a pinch-hitter for his first major league at bat. Jesus grounded out.
Dark followed that decision by selecting Matty to pinch-hit for the next batter. Matty struck out.
Felipe, who started the contest in right field, grounded out to Willey to end the frame.
In the Outfield
A few days later, San Francisco was headed to a 13-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field on Sept. 15, 1963.
The brothers would play in the outfield together in the final two innings against the Pirates.
Felipe begin the game in right field, but would later play left and center.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jesus entered the contest in right field as he replaced Willie McCovey in the line-up. Felipe went to left.
One frame later, Matty was inserted for Willie Mays. Matty went to left, while Felipe moved to center.
Jesus
Jesus was part of the Oakland A’s teams that won the World Series in 1973 and 1974.
Unlike his bothers, he would never appear in an all-star game. However, he did have six hits in a game on July 10, 1964.
In a 10-3 San Francisco win over the Chicago Cubs, Jesus collected a hit against all pitchers that day in Wrigley Field.
Jesus hit a homer in the sixth inning off Dick Scott, while getting singles off Dick Ellsworth, Lew Burdette, Don Elston, Wayne Schurr and Lindy McDaniel.
Matty
Matty was a two-time all-star in 1968 and 1969 with Pittsburgh. He won the National League batting title with the Pirates in 1966.
Like Jesus, Matty was part of an Oakland A’s world championship. He was member of the A’s first World Series team in 1972.
Felipe
Although Felipe never won a World Series, he was a three-time all-star and led the brothers with 2,101 hits from 1958-74. Matty had 1,777 hits from 1960-74, while Jesus finished with 1,216 from 1963-79.
Felipe was named the NL Manager of the Year with the Montreal Expos in 1994. In 2016, he was inducted into the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame.
Other Family Members
Adding to the Alou family legacy were three others to make the big leagues.
Jose Sosa was a pitcher for the Houston Astros in 1975 and 1976. Sosa was a cousin of the three brothers.
While Felipe was the manager for Montreal, his son Moises Alou and his nephew Mel Rojas were players with the Expos. Rojas would play 10 seasons in the 1990s.
Moises passed his father with 2,134 career hits from 1990-2008. He also picked up more hardware than any one else in the family. He won a World Series with the Florida Marlins in 1997, while making the all-star game six times along with earning a pair of Silver Sluggers.