The Alou Brothers Form Baseball's Only All-Brother Outfield

On September 15, 1963, Felipe, Matty, and Jesus Alou of the San Francisco Giants all appeared in the outfield together during a 13-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at Forbes Field. It was the first time three brothers had manned the outfield simultaneously in a major league game. No other trio of brothers has done it since.

The alignment came together through substitutions. Felipe started in right field and moved to left in the seventh inning when Jesus entered the game in right. Matty was inserted in left in the eighth, and Felipe shifted to center. For two innings, every fly ball hit to the outfield was tracked down by an Alou.

All three brothers were born in the Dominican Republic, in the small town of Haina near the capital of Santo Domingo. Felipe was the oldest and the first to reach the majors, debuting with the Giants in 1958. Matty arrived in 1960, and Jesus joined the club in September 1963, just days before the all-brother outfield took shape. Jesus was playing in only his sixth major league game that afternoon.

Felipe was the most accomplished of the three at that point, a two-time All-Star who hit .316 with 25 home runs in 1962. Matty would later win the National League batting title in 1966, hitting .342 for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jesus had a solid 15-year career as a steady outfielder and pinch-hitter.

The three brothers appeared together in the outfield twice more in September 1963 but never started a game as an all-Alou outfield. The Giants' other outfielders, including Willie Mays and Harvey Kuenn, were too established for manager Alvin Dark to bench all of them at once.

September 15, 1963, stands as a singular family achievement in baseball history. Three brothers from one small Caribbean town, playing side by side in a major league outfield, a feat the sport has never repeated.