Atlanta Braves – Throwback Thursday Special – The First Basemen

Felipe Alou

It wasn’t exclusively his position in 1966, but Felipe Alou should probably be remembered as Atlanta’s 1st first baseman, taking 90 games and over 700 innings there in 1966.

Alou was a Brave from 1964 through 1969, taking in a total of 262 games at first.  His best career seasons were in ’66 and ’68, with 6.1/6.2 WAR, a combined 44 home runs, 194 runs scored, batting averages of .327/.317, and 131 total RBI.

Like many others of his era, Alou was an outfielder first.  He started with the Giants in 1958, and was part of a triumvirate of brothers:  Jesus and Matty also had excellent major league careers, not to mention Feilpe’s son, Moises.  The funny bit is that “Alou” wasn’t really his surname – it was Rojas – but the Giants messed that up when they originally signed him… and it stuck.

Felipe moved into coaching after his playing career ended, managing both the Montreal Expos and the San Francisco Giants.