Jesús Alou, youngest of famed brother trio, dies at 80

Jesús Alou, a two-time World Series champion and a member of one of baseball’s most legendary families, died Friday at the age of 80, the Giants announced.

Alou spent the first six seasons of his 15-year career with the Giants and made history on Sept. 15, 1963, when he appeared in the same outfield as his two older brothers, Felipe and Matty Alou. Felipe started in right field before being joined late in the game by Matty and Jesús, a 21-year-old rookie who was only five days removed from his Major League debut.

The trio was broken up when Felipe was traded to the Milwaukee Braves the following offseason, but Jesús and Matty spent the next few seasons as teammates in San Francisco.

While he never reached the same heights as his brothers, both of whom developed into All-Star outfielders, Alou saw plenty of action with the Giants through 1968, batting .279 with 18 home runs over 633 games with the club.

“Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences go to the Alou family, his friends and all those whose lives he touched,” the Giants said in a statement.

Jesús Maria Rojas Alou was born in Bajos de Haina, Dominican Republic, on March 24, 1942. He made his Major League debut with the Giants in 1963 and retired in 1979, though he missed the 1976-77 seasons. He left the Giants when he was taken by the Montreal Expos in the 1968 Expansion Draft. But he never played for Montreal, which traded him to the Houston Astros in the 1968-69 offseason.

Alou returned to the Bay Area with the A’s in 1973, hitting .306 as a role-player down the stretch to help Oakland capture its second consecutive World Series title. He and the A’s repeated as World Series champions the following year.

“We are heartbroken by the passing of Jesús Alou,” the A’s said in a statement. “He was a key member of our World Series-winning teams in 1973 & 74 and will forever be a member of the A’s family.”

Alou, who retired following the 1979 season, was a career .280 hitter with 32 home runs and 31 stolen bases with the Giants, Astros, A’s and Mets. He had worked as a scout for the Red Sox since 2002 and served as the director of the team’s academy in the Dominican Republic.

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Jesus Alou," the Red Sox said in a statement. "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."

Matty Alou, born four years before Jesús, died in 2011 at age 72. Felipe, the oldest of the three brothers, is 87 years old.