Comments on: Matty Alou: 1938-2011

By: Old Gator

Old Gator — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:46:49 +0000

Flippant? Maybe he wrote it on porpoise.

By: purnellmeagrejr

purnellmeagrejr — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:28:25 +0000

yeah, Craig – death – like Wu Tang Clan – ain’t nuthin’ to f. with.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:22:34 +0000

The Alou brothers paved the way for many Latin American players, and what will remain poignant is their diversity, which should dispel any stereotypical characterizations of Latin Players. They were smart Baseball players above anything else. RIP, Manny, you were perhaps the least gifted of your bros, but I sure didn’t want you coming to the plate when the game was on the line.

By: spudchukar

spudchukar — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:08:23 +0000

Jonny, generally I deal with your comments, which often I do not agree with, but still recognize as credible, however, unless I missing something here, this is crass.

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:58:35 +0000

I also recall the Harry Walker story. Forbes Field was notorious for its hard infield, and Alou lacked power, so it made sense.

By: buddaley

buddaley — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:29:35 +0000

Wasn’t the story that when he came to the Pirates, Harry Walker convinced him to swing down on the ball so as to hit ground balls through the infield or use his speed to get on base?

I remember when he came to the Yankees that he often batted 3rd, and it seemed that he never could drive the runner in from 2B. It is possible that my memory is faulty and focusing on anecdotes as RBIs are such a slippery type of stat, but it is odd that someone getting over 300 ABs as the 3rd place hitter only had 29 RBIs all year.

Nonetheless, he certainly had some fine years and from all I have heard was an exemplary character. Sorry to hear of his passing.

By: bbk1000

bbk1000 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 21:02:32 +0000

yea weird, but if he’s the bald Buddy Holly wannabe on MSNBC it makes sense….he’s out there a bit…a strange way for a non family member to write about someone who has passed away….

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:18:11 +0000

Yup.

By: cshearing

cshearing — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:43:05 +0000

All I know of the Alou family came in the form of Felipe managing the Expos, with his son Moises playing the outfield. I am (a little) too young to remember much of the brothers’ playing days.

Always had a lot of respect for how the Alou’s handled themselves and their obvious passion for the game. Condolences to the family.

By: vanmorrissey

vanmorrissey — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:04:36 +0000

No, Craig was merely praising an underrated hitter and his brothers, Jesus and Felipe. Felipe was awesome and Jesus did the neck exercises before hitting. Just an awesome hitting family.

By: theonlynolan

theonlynolan — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:56:48 +0000

The Delahanty brothers had a pretty good run in the early 1900s. All 5 of them.

By: florida76

florida76 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:04:32 +0000

Looking at Alou’s numbers, I didn’t realize he saw considerably more action with the Bucs than anyone else. Terrific player, had the bad luck of being traded to St. Louis after the 1970 season, missing out on starting for the ’71 World Champs. Bucs had a better replacement in Al Oliver, plus they obtained Nelson Briles in the deal, so it was a no-brainer. At least Alou was on a champion(in a reserve role), with the 1972 A’s.

By: Jonny 5

Jonny 5 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 18:03:06 +0000

Ohhhh, of course, and I bet you like Jose Molina best too then??? How convenient…..

By: 78mu

78mu — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:42:14 +0000

Alou was never going to make anyone forget Ted Williams but he was a fun player to watch. He had that big bat and choked way up just trying to make contact and not hit home runs. Of course he was very successful at hitting the ball as well as not hitting home runs.

Someone at the Cardinals had the brilliant idea of putting a 5’9″ 700 OPS slap hitter at first base. Somehow the nickname Big Mat never stuck.

R.I.P. Matty. Despite playing for the Pirates you were one of the great guys of my childhood baseball memories.

By: tekton8

tekton8 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:38:28 +0000

yuck… I guess that’s a compliment if one can overlook the unfortunate and vaguely slanderous use of the word “overdose”. Thought I was reading the Onion for a second…

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:37:58 +0000

Thanks for the note. Back in the day, as a Pirates fan with unusually good reception, I saw Matty play on TV a lot. Basically, he just swung at the ball, and usually made contact. I saw him get hits on fastballs at eye level. In his batting championship season of 1966, he walked only 24 times, but only struck out 44 times (the most Ks he had in one season).

Farewell, Matty.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/alouma01.shtml

By: lyon810

lyon810 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:33:33 +0000

yes, flippant

By: sonoco

sonoco — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:28:10 +0000

Yeah, kinda odd. No big deal, but unnecessarily flippant in my opinion.

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:14:39 +0000

Dang, sad to see this. Since I too am a middle son, I always like Matty best of the Alou’s (Rojas, actually; another case of Dominican name changing here folks. This time I think it wasn’t his fault, though. Someone in MLB screwed it up). Happy trails Matty, you were an inspiration to middle born kids everywhere…

By: acdc363

acdc363 — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:12:48 +0000

I overdose on being awesome everytime I drink

By: blueintown

blueintown — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:07:14 +0000

“An overdose of being a really awesome and underrated contact hitter is being investigated.”

Eww. What a weird thing to write.