Alou, the first Dominican Republic-born manager in the U.S. major leagues, received 27 of 28 first-place votes, it was announced Monday, with Dallas Green of the New York Mets getting the other one.
"This is very gratifying,'' Alou said from his home in the Dominican Republic. "But I would trade this for a playoff spot. The one regret I have is that we didn't complete the regular season.''
The Expos, who have shown steady improvement in Alou's two-plus seasons, may have exceeded even their own high expectations this year by going 74-40. Montreal led Atlanta by six games in the National League East Division when the players went on strike Aug. 12.
Led by Moises Alou, the manager's son, and several rookies and up-and-coming players -- such as reliever Mel Rojas, Felipe's nephew -- Montreal rebounded from a slow start in which it fell 8 1/2 games behind Atlanta in mid-April.
The Expos, with Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom and 23-year-old shortstop Wil Cordero sparking the offense and Ken Hill and 23-year-old Pedro Martinez leading the pitching staff, eventually passed the Braves for good in late July and pulled away.
Without the strike, Montreal might have been playing in the NL playoffs this week.
Cincinnati's Davey Johnson got 15 second-place votes and finished a distant second with 51 points. Houston's Terry Collins was third with 31 and Green was fourth with 12. Alou played 17 seasons in the majors with San Francisco, the Milwaukee and Atlanta Braves, Oakland, the New York Yankees, the Milwaukee Brewers and Montreal. He batted .286 with 2,101 hits and 206 home runs. In 1963, he was part of major league history when he joined brothers Matty and Jesus in the same outfield for the San Francisco Giants.
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The news was not as good Monday for Chicago Cubs manager Tom Trebelhorn, who was fired after a last-place finish in the National League Central Division.
Trebelhorn, hired last October, is the 11th manager the Cubs have fired in 12 years. He was the fifth manager in baseball to be let go since the players' strike ended the season Aug. 12.
General manager Ed Lynch said that among the candidates he intended to interview was Tony Muser, the Cubs' third base coach. He said he hoped to have a manager and coaching staff in place by early November.
Chicago finished with a 49-64 record this season, second worst in the league.
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