no. 495 - felipe alou

Who is the man: Felipe Alou batted .271 in 154 games in his first year for the Oakland A's in 1970. But by the time this card was issued, he had already been traded to the Yankees.

Can ya dig it: This photo possibly was taken during the same game as the photo on this card. I don't know for sure as I couldn't match any of the fans in both cards, although the guy in the lower left might be in both photos.

Right on: This is even a more glorious card than the one I just linked. Action pix like this is one of the big reasons '71 Topps is in my top 3 Topps sets of all-time.

You see that cat Alou is a bad mother: Considered to be a pioneer for Dominican players, Alou was the first native of the Dominican Republic to get regular playing time in the majors.

Shut your mouth: The Alou brothers are among the most famous baseball brothers in MLB history, but their actual surname is "Rojas." A mistake after he was signed led Felipe to be called by his mother's surname, "Alou," and he didn't feel that he could correct anyone. Also, "Alou" is pronounced incorrectly. It's actually pronounced with the second syllable sounding like "low."

No one understands him but his woman: Alou's brothers, Matty and Jesus, were each married for a long time. Matty had been married 49 years when he died in 2011. Jesus married in the late 1960s. Meanwhile, Felipe Alou was married four times, but has been married to his fourth, Lucie, since 1985.

(A word about the back): The Alou batters hit consecutively in the batting order during that eighth inning in 1963. Manager Alvin Dark put both Matty and Jesus in as pinch-hitters ahead of Felipe's regular turn in the order.