To understand how Felipe Alou could have played virtually his entire 17-year, major-league career in the United States and yet be enshrined in the Canadian and Latino Hall of Fames and not in Cooperstown – well, you know there’s an interesting story here. "Alou" tells the rags-to-riches story in an autobiography that recounts how his dreams of becoming a doctor in his Dominican Republic homeland took a surprising turn when he caught a scout’s eye while pressed into service on the baseball field at the 1955 Pan American Games, when he actually was there to compete in track and field. The upshot was that he became the first Dominican to ever play in the American big leagues (mostly for the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves) as well as the first to later manage (with the Giants and the Montreal Expos). Today, the DR produces more major leaguers than an other country outside the US.
Here’s an excerpt from Alou:
“How do you go from the incredible high of beating your archival in a three-game [1962] series to several hours later being ready to play Game One of a World Series? You don’t. And we weren’t.
“To this day, if you wear a Giants uniform and you beat the Dodgers, there is a special sense of satisfaction – even if it’s a spring training game. So after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers with that ninth-inning, come-from-behind rally, it felt as though we had already won the World Series. We sensed the fans felt the same way, too. There was a buzz for Game One of the World Series at Candlestick Park. No question. But it wasn’t the same buzz.
“We were tired. Our energy – physically and emotionally – was down. Meanwhile, the New York Yankees were rested and eager.”
