Back in those days -- some 40 years ago -- the current Giants manager was one of just a handful of non-white players to grace baseball's clubhouses in a time when American racial segregation and hostilities extended themselves even into the game of baseball.

Today, baseball is rich with a diversity of players from all walks of life, and all parts of the world. San Francisco's clubhouse, mired in a city known for its flare of open tolerance and acceptance of differences, is a prime example of that diversity.

It is just that diversity that prompted the Giants to celebrate Heritage Week during the team's next homestand, beginning Monday night when San Francisco hosts division-rival Arizona.

"The game is definitely getting to be more international," Alou said before last Monday's game in San Diego. "I get letters from faraway parts of the world -- Australia, Japan, Europe, Holland. Even people who are prisoners in jail watch games and know what's going on."

While San Francisco and the Giants are proud to boast diversity and celebrate different heritages, Alou remembers a time when those things weren't always appreciated by his superiors.

Alou, now 71, played outfield for the Braves when the team first moved to Atlanta in the late 1960s. The South is a region long considered the bastion of racism in the United States, but an intolerant occurrence happened to him just a few years prior in the City by the Bay.

"I came into this game in 1958, 11 years after Jackie Robinson became the first black man that had played [in the Majors]," Alou said. "Very seldom did you see a Latin player on a team. ... Don't forget that Alvin Dark, our manager, didn't even want Spanish spoken on his team."

Although it may have made communication difficult for Alou, his brothers Jesus and Matty, and other Latino players, things are easier now for all foreign-born players, Felipe Alou said.

"This is what is happening now. You see the Japanese still bringing their interpreters," Alou said.

"It's a different world right now, and we have to accept the fact we're not the only ones playing baseball right now. That's the bottom line."

Along with baseball's emergence as an international game has come positive social change among those who have been a part of the sport. Alou said that Dark later recanted his orders.

"When [Dark] told me a couple of years ago he was sorry about it, he didn't say it in Spanish," Alou said.

In Alou's clubhouse, Spanish is as heard almost as frequently as English. From time to time, some of the Giants' Latino players such as Omar Vizquel, Moises Alou, Eliezer Alfonzo and Armando Benitez are heard giving interviews in their native language. Alfonzo, a Venezuelan by birth, is still working on improving his English.

The Giants' Heritage Week kicks off Monday night as Irish heritage is celebrated. Fans purchasing special seating tickets on sfgiants.com for that game will receive newly designed hats featuring a four-leaf clover and the Giants logo.

The promotions continue throughout the week followed by Italian, Jewish, African-American and Mexican Heritage nights.