Felipe Alou, a man whose name is synonymous with the Giants, returns for his 16th season as a Special Assistant to Baseball Operations after serving as the club’s field manager from 2003-06.
The organization named their facility in the Dominican Republic after Alou - The Felipe Alou Baseball Academy, which serves as the headquarters of the Giants’ Latin American operations and as the educational training and player development home for the team’s international prospects.
The Dominican icon continues a long and storied career with the franchise, beginning with his playing days as a member of the original San Francisco Giants club in 1958.
The 2023 campaign will mark Alou’s 68th season in professional baseball. Following a distinguished 17-year playing career that ended in 1974, he was appointed a minor league manager in 1976 and remained in uniform each year through the 2006 campaign. In 13 seasons as a Major League manager, the 1994 NL Manager of the Year posted a 1,033-1,021-1 ledger and became just the 53rd skipper since 1900 to register 1,000 wins. The Haina, Dominican Republic native is the first manager of Latin descent to win 1,000 games in the big leagues, and is only the third foreign-born skipper to reach the milestone (Bruce Bochy, France, 1,926-1,944; and Harry Wright, England, 1,000-825).
Alou became the first Dominican-born manager in Major League history when he assumed control of the Montreal Expos on May 22, 1992. Prior to the 2015 season, Alou was elected into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, acknowledging his work with the Expos.
Primarily an outfielder during his playing days, the second Dominican-born player to reach the Majors (following Ozzie Virgil with the 1956 New York Giants) was a three-time All-Star during a 17-year career with the Giants (1958-63), Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves (1964-69), Oakland Athletics (1970-71), New York Yankees (1971-73), Montreal Expos (1973) and Milwaukee Brewers (1974).
Alou, and his wife Lucie, have two children, Valerie and Felipe, Jr. and make their home in Boynton Beach, FL. He’s also the father of daughters Maria, Christia, Cheri and Jennifer, along with sons Jose, Moises, Felipe Jose and Luis.