Matt Alou (middle) played in the outfield for the San Francisco Giants with his brothers Jesus (left) and Felipe (right). Mattie Arrow, who played for his team in his 1972 World Series for the Oakland A’s championship, died Thursday at the age of 72.
Jesús Alou, who left his mark on the Giants and AS and was part of one of baseball’s most famous families, died Friday. Alou was due to turn 81 at the end of this month.
Arrow helped make Giants history on September 15, 1963, when his older brothers Felipe and Mattie appeared in the same outfield. The brothers have never started in the same game — Felipe was the Giants’ regular right fielder and Matty was primarily a defensive replacement. The youngest of the trio, Jesús was called up at the age of 21, but had no intention of competing. Willie Mays cracked the outfield in center field and Willie McCovey in left field.
The Dominican Republic-born Aruz also appeared in the outfield together in the closing stages of two games, making a total of eight appearances in the same game for the Giants that season. That winter, the Arrow outfield disbanded when Felipe was traded to the Milwaukee Braves.
Jesus spent the first six seasons of his 15-year majors career with the Giants. He returned to the Bay Area late in his 1973 season with his A’s, scoring . 306 to help Oakland win his second consecutive World Series title. He and his A’s won the series again in 1974.
ESPN’s Enrique Rojas who first reported the death of JesusHe has been a Red Sox scout since 2002, and the team confirmed the news on Twitter Friday afternoon. The post read, “Deeply saddened by the passing of Jesús Alou. Two-time World Series champion and with more than 60 years of baseball experience as a player, coach, scout and ambassador, Jay said to the Red Sox Dominican Academy and Lindos Patriarch of Suenos, uniting the community within the Red Sox Nation.”
Rojas wrote that Jesús had recently suffered two “cardiovascular accidents”, but was not known to be dealing with “serious illnesses”. Arrow’s middle brother, Matty, died in 2011 at the age of 72. Former Giants manager Felipe will turn 88 in May.
Jesus was a .280 career hitter with 32 home runs and 31 stolen bases for the Giants, Astros, A’s and Mets. He was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 1968 expansion draft, but was traded to the Astros along with Don Clendennon for Rusty Staub.
Aruth is the only brother to have played every outfielder during the same major league game. Felipe played all three outfield positions in that game, and Forbes said he had a 13–5 win over the Pirates on the field. Jesus replaced McCovey in the bottom of the seventh to play right field, sending his oldest brother to left field. Matty came on as a substitute for Mays after one inning, playing left and shifting Felipe to center.
Jesus made his big league debut five days before joining his brothers in the same outfield, but they also made history in that game. Arrus struck in his eighth straight against the Mets, with Jesús and Matty pinch hitting before Felipe’s spot came. Up. Against Carlton Willie, Jesus and Felipe grounded out and Matty struck out, making the total 0-3.
Jesus received the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame Pioneer Award in 2008.
