John Shea: Hall of Fame should honor past Giants manager Felipe Alou.
Bypassed for years as a manager, Dominican finally got his shot at 57
Editor’s note: Through the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony Wednesday in Cooperstown, N.Y., the Sporting Green will present some of its writers’ arguments for which person, given the chance, they immediately would induct.
Baseball was late to integrate, finally permitting Jackie Robinson to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Late to include a Negro Leaguer in the Hall of Fame, finally inducting Satchel Paige in 1971.
The biggest stain on baseball’s history is the color barrier that blocked minorities from entering the game, a stain that’s still visible on many fronts, particularly among ownership groups and front-office personnel.
Progress is about righting wrongs, some more colossal than others, and on this basis, it’s time — long overdue, in fact
— to induct Felipe Alou into the Hall of Fame as a manager.
Though Alou wouldn't qualify based only on his time managing in the majors — he was 1,033-1,021 in 14 seasons, the 62nd-most wins in history — he should be recognized for more than his 10 years with the Expos and four with the Giants.
Alou wasn't given the opportunity early in life he'd likely get now. He faced discrimination as a Black man and as a Latino. The majors weren't ready to empower him during his first 17 years in the Montreal Expos' organization.
Finally, in 1992, Alou became the first native of the Dominican Republic to get a big-league managing gig.
At age 57.
“What he went through and what he accomplished and the barriers he broke, you can easily make an argument that he belongs in the Hall of
Fame,” said
Dave Dombrowski, former Expos general manager. “He has a story that needs to be told in the Hall of Fame.”
In today's world, with Alou's baseball mind, teaching skills, extensive background and engaging personality, you hope he'd get a chance in a heartbeat.
His 17-year playing career ended in 1974 when he was 39. That's the age of his son, Luis Rojas, who's in his second year managing the Mets, one of seven active MLB managers 45 or younger.
“Felipe should not have been held back to his late 50s until he became a bigleague manager,” said Peter Kerasotis, who co-authored the book “Alou: My Baseball Journey” in 2018. “If Felipe got a chance earlier, he could've been top five in wins today.”
Alou was passed over in his only year on the Hall of Fame player ballot (1980) and hasn't gotten any love in any veterans committees, which consider managers, umpires and executives, along with players overlooked on the writers' ballot.
Committee voters are encouraged to consider the totality of a career. Joe Torre was inducted as a manager, but his 18 years as a player also were considered. Which helps Alou's candidacy: He's one of just three men with 2,000 hits, 200 homers and 1,000 wins as a manager. The other two are Hall of Famers, Torre and Frank Robinson.
“Felipe was part of a breakthrough Latino generation with the Giants,” said Brian Sabean, who hired Alou to manage in 2003, replacing Dusty Baker after the 2002 World Series.
“Shouldn't the Hall of Fame have a separate category for a more conclusive body of work? Felipe was a standout player and bided his time in the minor leagues to get his shot at 57, then became the most successful Latino manager.”
The Hall of Fame has the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, presented every three years to an ambassador of the game. But like awards given to broadcasters and writers, the Buck O'Neil Award has no induction.
Alou ought to be inducted. Very few people have made as big an impact in baseball as Alou, 86, who broke into the majors as an outfielder with the 1958 Giants and was part of MLB's most diverse clubhouse in the early 1960s.
Minorities had issues with then-manager Alvin Dark, who asked Latinos not to speak Spanish in the clubhouse. Alou — who had two brothers on the team — stood up to Dark. Alou says now his stance got him traded to the Milwaukee Braves after the 1963 season. Throughout his career, he was a leader, particularly among young Latin American players.
Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa likened what Alou did for Latinos to what Jackie Robinson did for African Americans.
“Felipe Alou should be the leading candidate through the veterans committee to be voted into the Hall of Fame,” said La Russa, who managed against Alou in Double-A in 1978, a year before La Russa took over the Chicago White Sox at age 34.
“He paid a hell of a lot more dues than I did to manage in the major leagues, and he opened the door for Latin Americans as a player and with his success as a manager.”
Late in Alou's playing career, his Yankees manager, Ralph Houk, suggested a future in managing. One of Alou's final stops as a player was Montreal, and he joined the organization in 1976 as an instructor and started his managing career in A-ball the following year.
Alou was in his early 40s, and no team was considering Latinos to manage in the majors. By the summer of 1977, there were no Black managers (Frank Robinson had been fired in Cleveland) and very few Latino coaches.
So Alou persevered in the Expos' system for nearly two decades before he got his chance. Five Montreal managers came and went while Alou toiled.
When Dombrowski got a chance to hire his first manager in June 1991 after he fired Buck Rodgers, he picked Triple-A manager Tom Runnells, who lasted less than a year.
Dan Duquette, Dombrowski's successor, fired Runnells in May 1992 and hired Alou. Dombrowski now admits he regrets he didn't recognize Alou's value sooner.
“For whatever reason, I didn't. I thought the world of him. I missed on that one,” said Dombrowski, who went on to run the Marlins, Tigers and Red Sox, reaching the World Series with each, and is now the Phillies' boss.
Alou took over a Montreal team that lost 90 games, but averaged 90 wins his first two full seasons and appeared destined to win it all in 1994 before labor turmoil wiped out the World Series. The Expos were an MLB-best 74-40.
Poor ownership led to the demise of the Expos and their eventual departure to Washington, D.C., to become the Nationals. Alou managed into the 2001 season and two years later, started his four-year run managing the Giants, winning 100 games his first year.
“He did all this for us,” said Rojas, the sixth Dominican manager following his father, Tony Peña, Luis Pujols, Juan Samuel and Manny Acta. “He went straight from the Dominican to facing all these barriers with language and culture and is a big inspiration for Latinos.
“He says things that will last forever, and I think something like this (Hall of Fame induction) would be best when he is still present.”
Alou managed 1,636 minor-league games and countless winter-league games in Latin America, starting in his 20s when he was a player-manager, and won championships in Venezuela and the Dominican.
“Players loved to play for him, as he's always been an honest and forthright human being the players respected,” said Manolo Hernández Douen, a journalist for 50 years and A's Spanish broadcaster who credited Alou for nurturing Hall of Famers Vladimir Guerrero and Dennis Martinez.
“If he did not have to go through the undeserved and unjust Black and Latino screen blockage and got an opportunity in his early 40s, he probably would have doubled his total of wins and other merits to achieve a sure ticket to Cooperstown.”
“He paid a hell of a lot more dues than I did to manage in the major leagues.” Tony La Russa, White Sox manager, on Felipe Alou