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Meeting a boyhood baseball hero

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You know how much I like baseball. So imagine the excitement I experienced at a recent Spring Training game when I got the chance to converse with one of my boyhood heroes, Felipe Alou.

I didn’t know he would be at the game at Scottsdale Stadium. Attending the game with me was John Gibson, an advertising sales representative with The Times and an avid baseball fan.

Just before the start of the seventh inning, and we were about to leave the game, I thought I’d bettermake a restroom run. I noticed a group of people in line to see somebody signing books. I walked a little bit closer and recognized the man signing the books was former Giant Felipe Alou.

A man approached me and asked if I was interested in meeting Mr. Alou. Yes, but do you have to buy his book and does he personally sign it. The man said, “You can meet him without buying a book, but if you are a baseball fan I can guarantee you’ll like it.”

For those who don’t know the name Alou, let me tell you a little about him and his remarkable family.

Felipe was one of six children that grew up in a 15ft. by 15ft. one-room shack in the Dominican Republic.

He was the first player from his country to play in the major leagues and he was the first to manage a major league team. Two of his brothers, Matty and Jesus, also made it to the major leagues and had excellent careers.

Felipe’s son, Moises, also played in the major leagues and actually had more hits than his father and two uncles.

That was a big deal since the Alous had more hits (5,094) than any other brother combination in history and that includes the DiMaggios (Joe, Dom and Vince).

When Matty won the 1966 National League batting title with a .342 average for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Felipe finished second with a .327 average for the Atlanta Braves. They became the first -- and only -- brothers to finish one-two in a National League batting race. In fact, they were one-two in all of Major League baseball.

Felipe signed a contract to play baseball with the New York Giants for $200 pesos, then the equivalent of 200. His parents owed 200 pesos at the local grocery store and he used that money to pay off the bill.

He was assigned to a rookie league team based in Cocoa, Florida. He soon learned the words hate and prejudice.

He had to drink water from the fountains marked COLOREDS. Only the white players stayed in hotel rooms. Felipe put all of that behind him and led the league in hits that first season.

In 1958, he was assigned to the top Giants farm club, the Phoenix Giants.

That is when I first heard the name Alou. My dad would drive me down to games at the old original Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Central Avenue and Mohave.

We had just moved to Phoenix from Oklahoma City. My dad and I enjoyed the games and I became a Giant fan rooting for Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou, Andre Rogers and Eddie Fisher.

Oh, the memories.