Dominican baseball legend Matty Rojas Alou dies, Pelotero Dominicano Matty Rojas Alou se murio

The Dominican Baseball Guy is still coming down from his post World Series hangover in which his beloved Texas Rangers blew the series with one out to go.

But, alas we have the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) underway, so it is a great time of year for fans of Dominican baseball.

Sadly,  the Dominican Baseball Guy has to report on the death of one of the greatest Dominican baseball players of all-time, Matty Alou.  The news was first reported by Dominican Today here.  Big League Stew, which is a great Yahoo baseball blog, later had a nice post on Matty Alou.

Matty, and his brothers Felipe and Jesus were the first and only brothers to start in all three outfield positions (for the Giants in 1963).  They combined to have 5,094 hits, which is the most all time by brothers in MLB.  Matty is a legend in the Dominican Republic, and throughout baseball really, because he was in the first wave of Dominicans to play in MLB, starting in the 1950's.  He played for 15 seasons and won the NL batting title in 1966.

The Alou's are definitely the first family of Dominican baseball.  Felipe went on to have a long managerial career, and Felipe's son Moises also had a long MLB career.  Moises is currently the GM of the Leones de Escogido in the Dominican Winter Baseball League.

RIP Matty Alou, one of the greatest Dominican Baseball players and Giants of all-time.

Ex-Pirate Tony Pena elected to Latino Baseball Hall of Fame, Dominicano Tony Pena va a Salon de Fama

The Latin Baseball Hall of Fame, or Salon de la Fama del Beisbol Latino, is based in La Romana, Dominican Republic.  The organization works in coordination with MLB and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

They recently announced their class for 2012.  Aiden Gonzalez of MLB.com covered the story from the perspective of Bernie Williams and the Yankees.  But the Dominican Baseball Guy has not seen one article covering from the perspective of the Dominican inductee and former Pittsburgh Pirate Tony Pena.  Shocking, (the Dominican Baseball Guys knows) MLB and other major media outlets covering the Yankees and not the Pirates.

So, as the Dominican Baseball Guy it is my duty to cover Tony Pena's side of this great honor.  Pena is of course one the most revered Dominican players, and the Dominican Baseball Guy would consider him one of the leaders of what he considers the "modern wave" of Dominicans coming into the big leagues since the 1980s.    He is certainly one of the greatest Dominican catchers to ever play in the big leagues.  You know what, the Dominican Baseball Guy is going to say it: Tony Pena is the greatest Dominican catcher of all-time.

Which bring the Dominican Baseball Guy to another point...THERE ARE NO DOMINICAN CATCHERS nowadays.  The Dominican Baseball Guy noticed this down in the Dominican Republic.  In all the pick up games there is rarely someone playing catcher.  The Dominican Baseball Guy also hypothesizes that there is rarely good catching equipment in La Republica Dominica, so this could be another reason for the dearth of catchers in the country.  Lastly, the Dominican Baseball Guy surmises that "it's just not cool" to play catcher in for young Dominican players.  Just the opinion of the Dominican Baseball Guy, maybe some other reasons for this anomaly.

Pena had a great career that spanned 18 MLB seasons. He came up with the Pirates and went on to play with the Cardinals, Red Sox, and Indians. Tony was known for his defense behind the plate. He won 4 gold gloves and made 5 All-Star teams. He made it to the World Series with the Cardinals in 1987, losing to the Twins.

Tony also had a long career in the Dominican Winter Baseball League, playing late into his career with his original team, the Aguilas from Sanitago. The Dominican Baseball Guy could not find any statistics on his career in the DWL, but he played for more than ten years and won several titles with the Aguilas.

Tony went strait into coaching after his career was over, as many catchers do. He has managed the Aguilas for several years, winning DWL in 1998, 2000, 2001, and a Caribbean Series Championship with the team in 2001.  He spent 2002-2005 as the Royals manager and has been the Yankees bench coach for three years. 

Tony is from Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic. His son Tony Pena Jr. has pitched in the LIDOM and has had a cup of coffee as a pitcher with the Royals, and his other son, Francisco Pena, is in the Mets organization.  He joins Felipe Alou, Juan Marichal, Tetelo Vargas, Rico Carty and Horacio Martinez as the Dominican members of the Latino Hall of Fame.

Tony Pena, Yankees bench coach, by Keith Allison on Flickr

Felipe Alou one of MLB's best dads

A recent list from a Yahoo contributor just named Dominican Felipe Alou as one of the top five role models in MLB history.  Felipe played with his two brothers throughout his 17 year MLB career.  He went on to manage for the Expos and Giants.

Felipe was one of the first Dominicans to play in the big leagues and can be seen as a role model for later Dominican players.  He was also certainly a role model for his son, Moises Alou, who also had a long and prosperous MLB career.

Felipe is from Haina, DR.

Felipe Alou manages with the Giants, by Andrew Lynch on Flickr

Latino Baseball Hall of Fame inducts 2011 members

The Latin Baseball Hall of Fame was founded last year and inducted their second class on February 12, 2011.  Fourteen new members were inducted, and over 20 men were inducted in the inaugural year last year.  See the full list at the Salon de Fama del Beisbol Latino site.

The Dominicans now members of the hall are 2010 nominees Felipe Alou, Juan Marichal, and Tetelo Vargas, and the 2011 inductees Rico Carty and Horacio Martinez.

Juan Marichal statue in San Francisco, By Eric Molina on Flickr

The induction ceremony has taken place in the resort city of La Romana, Dominican Republic the last two years and there are plans to build the hall in this city, though construction has yet to begin.

See the full article and further commentary at the Dominican Baseball Examiner.

Dominican Baseball Card #5 and #6: Moises Alou

So technically Moises Alou was born in Atlanta, but his father and uncles were some of the first Dominicans to play in the big leagues and he has always had a home in Santo Domingo, so he is surely Dominican.  His father, Felipe, and uncles, Jesus and Matty, are national heroes and very well known amongst Dominican fans.  The last Dominican Winter Baseball League season (2010-11) was dedicated to the Alou brothers.  The Dominican Baseball blogged about this a couple times, as it seemed every game recap in the newspapers down there ended with: this season is dedicated to the Alou brothers.

The Dominican Baseball Guy has two really cool Moises Alou cards to share for the #5 and #6 Dominican Baseball Cards.  The first is a Rookie 1991 Rookie card, #38.  The blue border on this card is one of the tackiest faces of any set the Dominican Baseball Guy has ever seen, but for some reason he loves it.  The next card is his 1990 Score Rookie card (#592) that comes from his very first season in which he spent a few games with the Pirates.  It is crazy how young and skinny he looks, and the Dominican Baseball Guy loves looking at how players add that weight as they get older.

Moises played an amazing 17 years in the major leagues.  He first came up with the Expos where he was managed by his father.  He would later be managed by Felipe again in San Francisco.  Moises won a championship with the Florida Marlins in 1997 and then had three great years with the Dominican Baseball Guy's hometown Houston Astros.  The Dominican Baseball Guy remembers Alou as a dominate player in these years. In this three year stint he hit at least 27 HRs, 108 RBI, and batted over .300 every year.  He was then involved in the Steve Bartman incident that would have sent the Cubs to the World Series.  Moises then spent a few semi-productive years with the Giants and Mets.  A very successful and eventful career overall.

Moises has been able to stay involved with the game and is now the General Manager for Escogido in the Dominican Winter Baseball League.  Moises played for Escogido and his father managed the team previously.  According to MLB.com, he enjoyed the position last year, as he took his team to the Caribbean Series.  Escogido went on to win the Series.  Pretty good, for a first year GM.  He is back in the same position this year, and they have just opened training camp (See this article).

Dominican Winter Baseball League: Gigantes get first win, David Herndon gets win, Mark Hamilton and Erick Almonte Homer

10/18/09 Game-

The Gigantes got their first win in their first home game to the delight of the home crowd. There was lots of offense from both sides.

One of the Gigantes imported players, Angels prospect David Herndon, got the win. He pitched one inning, gave up 3 earned runs, and got the win. Once again proving that wins are an interesting statistic. Mark Hamilton, another import, had a home run and a single. He had really good numbers splitting time between AA and AAA in the Cardinals organization last year. One problem for him, the Cardinals have another pretty good player at first base, Dominican baseball player Albert Pujols. 

Dominican Erick Almonte showed that he can once again be a leading hitter for the Gigantes, with a home run. Estarlin De Los Santos, another Dominican baseball player, has a hit in all three games this season. He is just an exciting player at shortstop and playing well. So now the Twins have him in the minors, Alexi Casilla and Carlos Gomez on the big league club, and they just signed uber-prospect Miguel Angel Sano. Seems the Twins, like a lot of other teams, are finding really good Dominican players.

This season in the Dominican Winter Baseball League is officially dedicated to the Alou brothers (Felipe, Matty, and Jesus) all of whom had successful careers in MLB and played many years in the Dominican Winter Baseball League. Felipe's son, ex-big leaguer Moises Alou is actually the GM for the Leones de Escogido from Santo Domingo.

Moises Alou with the Giants in 2005,
by sgmom56 on Flickr