Another Alou Breaking Into Baseball - As Agent

BALTIMORE - Batting next in the Alou family lineup is . . . Christia.

Another member of baseball's Alou family is breaking into the major leagues, only Christia Alou doesn't hit, field, or run like her father, brother, uncles and cousins.

Instead, the 27-year-old graduating law student will sit in a business suit across the table from club officials and negotiate salaries for ballplayers.

Like her father Felipe, who was the first native-born Dominican to play in the major leagues, Christia is somewhat of a trailblazer. Of the 250 sports agents certified by the Major League Players Association, no more than a dozen are women.

"We hope there would be more, but they are slowly coming around," said Richard Weiss, a spokesman for the players union. "Hopefully she will do a lot to help that."

Alou has the perfect pedigree to succeed. Father Felipe is the Montreal Expos' manager and was voted the National League Manager of the Year in 1994. Her half-brother, Moises, is an All-Star outfielder for his dad's team, and cousin Mel Rojas pitches relief for the Expos.

Her uncles Matty and Jesus, along with Felipe, played a collective 46 seasons of major-league baseball in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. In 1963, the Alous became the first and so far, only set of three brothers to play on the same team, the San Francisco Giants.

Her uncles are now scouts for the Giants and the Florida Marlins. Her cousin Jay Alou unsuccessfully tried out at the Expos' minor-league camp last season. Then there are two more Rojas cousins, Francisco and Jose, who respectively played in the Giants' system and for the Detroit Tigers.

But this Alou isn't relying on the family name to earn her business.

"The name isn't enough," Christia said. "That's why I've got to show that I'm there to do the job, I want to the job, I will do the job."

When she graduates the University of Maryland law school later this month, she will turn her attention full-time to her nascent sports-management company, AC Sport, which she started 1 1/2 years ago with Julio Castillo, who works in employee relations for the District of Columbia.

The business is hard to break into, especially for women and someone so young. There are agents from large firms, such as Baltimore's Ron Shapiro, who control regions of the baseball market, making it hard for novices to get a foot in the door. Competition for players is often cutthroat.

"A baseball player says `I don't have many chances to negotiate a contract . . . am I going to waste it on a person who doesn't have any experience?' " said Gene Orza, associate general counselor for the player's union.

Alou already has signed three major-leaguers and four minor-leaguers, recruited from the Dominican Republic, where she is creating her niche. They play in the organizations of the California Angels, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Toronto Blue Jays.

"We're small. We're able to give specialized attention that a lot of the larger firms can't give," Alou said. "One thing about upcoming players, they're cautious. They want to know that their agent will be there for them."

Growing up in Atlanta and suburban Chicago, Alou primarily saw her father when he came to town for baseball games after her parents divorced. Baseball, she says, became her link to her father, who has had four wives and 11 children.

Felipe Alou said the only career advice he has given his daughter is to be honest and persistent, the way she should pursue anything.

"Girls still don't play baseball in the big leagues, but she wanted to stay close to the game," Felipe Alou said before a recent game against the Chicago Cubs in Montreal. "This is a way she can do it."

Christia graduated from Howard University and worked at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute before entering law school as a night student so she could continue to work. She married Denny Brice, the owner of a trucking company, on Christmas Day.

It was her half-brother, Moises, who first suggested that she become a sports agent after she entered law school.

"He said, `If you go to law school, you can be an agent. If you can be an agent, then maybe you can be my agent,' " she said. "That was just a totally off-the-cuff remark, but he was very encouraging. He planted it in me and I ran with it."

She has no intention of representing her father or brother, or even asking them to throw some business her way, until she has established herself and has a track record. But she sees no problem hiring some of her many siblings to help her run the business.

"I've always looked at this as an opportunity for my family," she said. "I'd like to see us all in a family business."