Jesús Alou, a two-time World Series champion and a big-league veteran of parts of 15 seasons, died on Friday, according to ESPN's Enrique Rojas. Alou would have celebrated his 81st birthday on March 24. Rojas added that Alou had suffered two "cardiovascular accidents" in recent times, but that he was not known to be dealing with a "serious illness."
Alou, for his career, hit .280/.305/.353 (86 OPS+) with 32 home runs and 31 steals in 1,380 contests. His contributions were worth an estimated 0.8 Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference's calculations.
Jesús was, of course, the youngest of the Alou brothers, alongside Felipe and the late Matty. The Alou family tree has since produced several other notable big-league players, including Moises, José Sosa, Luis Rojas, and Mel Rojas. Jesús, Felipe, and Matty made history on Sept. 15, 1963 when they appeared (but did not start) in the same outfield for the San Francisco Giants.
In addition to Alou's time with the Giants, he would play with the Houston Astros, Oakland Athletics, and New York Mets. It was with the Athletics that he won two World Series, in 1973 and '74. Alou was also briefly a member of the Montreal Expos organization. The Expos took him as part of the 1968 expansion draft, only to trade him to the Astros months later in a deal that fetched Montreal's Rusty Staub, among others. Alou had most recently worked with the Boston Red Sox, who released the following statement honoring his life:
Alou's time with the Astros happened to coincide with that of pitcher-slash-author Jim Bouton. As SABR noted in Alou's biography, Bouton wrote the following about Alou in his second book, I'm Glad You Didn't Take It Personally: "We called him J. or Jesus, never hay-soos. . . J. is one of the most delicate, sensitive, nicest men I have ever met. He'd walk a mile out of his way to drop a coin in some beggar's cup."
