Card Corner--Jesus Alou

Jesus Alou--Topps Company--1973 (No. 93)

In September of 1973, the defending world champion Oakland A's found themselves trying to fend off a challenge from the Kansas City Royals for supremacy in the American League West. Bad news arrived on September 8, when Reggie Jackson sustained a pulled hamstring, an injury that he frequently encountered due to the muscle-bound nature of his legs. Jackson, leading the league with 112 RBIs at the time, strained his hamstring while running hard from first to third on an extra-base hit. A similar, but more serious injury had prevented Jackson from participating in his first World Series in 1972; fortunately, the A's believed the latest occurrence would sideline him for a moderate length of seven to 10 days, allowing him to return for any post-season games.

Jesus Alou, hitting .322 since being purchased from the Houston Astros on July 31, stepped into the right field vacancy. Alou had previously filled in well for an ailing Joe Rudi in left field. "It's funny," remarked Alou to The Sporting News in discussing his new role as Oakland's fourth outfielder. "I was on a team like Houston, in fourth place, and I didn't play. Then I came over here to a team that is running for a pennant and I play."

Alou attributed his latest spree of hitting success to a curious tendency at the plate, an offspring of an aggressive approach at the plate that reminded observers of the free-swinging nature of contemporaries like Roberto Clemente and Manny Sanguillen. "I have always swung at bad pitches," Alou admitted to Ron Bergman. "But now I am swinging and missing. I used to swing at bad pitches and hit them. That was hurting me because every time I hit a bad pitch, it was so bad I couldn't get good wood on it. Now I swing and miss the bad ball and that gives me a chance to come back and hit a better pitch." In a strange way, Alou's offbeat analysis made sense, but left one question unanswered. Why was he swinging and missing more often than before? Even Alou could not provide an answer to that particular mystery.

The least talented of the Alou brothers, Jesus possessed the most distinctive batting style at the plate. Jesus typified the term "nervous hitter," with his constant body twitching, Clemente-like neck rotations, and stylish bat twirling. Alou exhibited so many extraneous movements before, during, and after each one of his swings that manager Dick Williams could no longer bear watching him during his at-bats. Instead, Williams waited to hear the sound of bat-meeting-ball before daring to look up from his position in the dugout.

After filling in for Jackson in September, as the A's fended off the Royals, Alou contributed to Oakland's cause during the League Championship Series against Baltimore. With the series extended to a decisive fifth game, Williams inserted Alou as his DH, batting him in the seventh slot against Orioles junkballer Doyle Alexander. Batting in the bottom of the fourth inning, Alou delivered a key two-out single that gave the A's a 3-0 lead against the O's. The lead would prove insurmountable, as the A's held on and advanced to the World Series against the upstart Mets.

In running down the laundry list of major contributors to Oakland's eventual world championship in 1973, names like Jackson, Rudi, Sal Bando, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, and Rollie Fingers usually come to mind. But for a few games that summer and fall, an awkward looking hitter named Jesus Alou played his small part in securing a title.