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Mateo Rojas Alou
San Francisco Giants
Outfield
Born: December 22, 1938, Bajos de Haina, Dominican Republic
Signed: Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent before 1957 season
Major League Teams: San Francisco Giants 1960-1965; Pittsburgh Pirates 1966-1970; St. Louis Cardinals 1971-1972; Oakland Athletics 1972; New York Yankees 1973; St. Louis Cardinals 1973; San Diego Padres 1974
Died: November 3, 2011, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (age 72)
The middle brother among the three Alou brothers, Matty Alou enjoyed a 15-year big league career, playing primarily with the Giants and Pirates. Alou came up with the Giants in 1960 and on September 15, 1963, the three Alou brothers played in the Giants' outfield for the first time together with Felipe (#383) in center, Jesus (#545) in right and Matty in left. Matty Alou was traded to the Pirates following the 1965 season, and he'd enjoy his best years in Pittsburgh. He won the league's batting title in 1966 with a .342 mark, beating out his brother Felipe who batted .327 for the Braves. As the starting center fielder for the Pirates, Alou batted over .330 in four consecutive seasons between 1966 and 1969, making the National League All-Star team in both 1968 and 1969. In the latter season, he led the league in hits (231) and doubles (41).
Building the Set
March 6, 2022 from The Philly Show (Sports Cards Plus - Cooper City, FL) - Card #554
This is the 70th of 102 cards acquired for our set from the Baseball Card Sports Memorabilia Show, affectionately known as The Philly Show, held in the basement of the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia in early March. We went nuts and left the show needing only 12 more cards to complete our 1965 Topps set, and I wrote about the show in detail over at The Phillies Room. After our 51 card haul from Uncle Dick's, and with more card spending budget still in place, I set out to find another dealer with a binder of 1965 Topps cards with reasonable prices. I had purchased cards from Sports Cards Plus before, finding the last few cards needed for our 1971 Topps set from this dealer back in December 2019.
Settling in, we found 37 commons, semi-stars and team cards needed for our set, including this Alou card, with the average price per card working out to around $6 a piece. After paying for this mini haul, we were officially 13 cards away from a complete set, with one more purchase coming to end the day.
The Card / Giants Team Set
The back of the card makes the obligatory reference to his two baseball playing brothers. Alou appeared in two World Series during his career, batting .333 (4 for 12) in the 1962 World Series against the Yankees, but his team fell in seven games. In the 1972 World Series, Alou played every inning of all seven games for the Athletics in right field, struggling mightily at the plate and batting just .042 (1 for 24).
1965 Season
Given more playing time and a semi-regular job in left field, Alou called this season his worst in baseball as he didn't produce. He appeared in 117 games for the Giants, batting just .231 with a pair of home runs and 18 RBIs. Often in the same line-up with his brother Jesus in right and Willie Mays (#250) in center, Matty Alou stared 42 games in left, gradually losing playing time to Len Gabrielson (#14) as the season progressed. Alou was dealt to the Pirates on December 1st for Joe Gibbon (#54) and Ozzie Virgil (#571), and he was about to embark on the best years of his career.
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First Mainstream Card: 1961 Topps #327
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (14): 1961-1974
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #41
118 - Alou non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 8/9/22.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #317 Don McMahon - Cleveland Indians
Previous Card: #317 Don McMahon - Cleveland Indians
Next Card: #319 Ken McMullen - Washington Senators
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