Pete Alonso did it! For the 253rd time, he launched a home run in a New York Met uniform, this one sailing over the wall and into franchise history.
On a 1-0 count against Spencer Strider, Alonso hit a 1-0 pitch over the right-center field wall—his opposite field. It put the Mets up 5-1.
It took the Polar Bear seven seasons to claw his way to the top.
He burst onto the scene in 2019, earning his nickname in spring training after teammate Todd Frazier said he looked like a “big, damn polar bear,” and setting the MLB mark for rookie home runs with 53, one more than Aaron Judge hit two years earlier.
He obliterated the single-season Met record that year, too, which was 41—shared by Carlos Beltran and Todd Hundley. He also became the fourth Met to lead the league in home runs. Dave Kingman, Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson preceded him.
Pete Alonso (20) Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
“He’s watching film 24/7,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Tuesday with Alonso one homer shy of tying the record. “We could be on a flight, you walk by his seat and he’s got his iPad, his notebook and he’s watching the whole pitching staff from the team that we about to face. That says a lot.
“It could be after an 0-for-4 game or a tough loss and he’s on the plane and it’s the same routine.”
Mendoza, in his second season managing Alonso, said, “Sometimes we gotta tell him to back off a little bit because he’s taking 1,000 swings in the cages. He’s hitting early. It’s pretty impressive to see a guy that caliber continue to push so much.”
After hitting 16 homers in Covid-shortened 2020, Alonso added 37 in 2021. Three years into his career, Alonso was in the top 20 on the Mets list, passing, among others, Gary Carter (89), Bobby Bonilla (95) and Carlos Delgado (104).
He smashed 40 homers in 2022, becoming the first Met to hit 40 twice for the team. He finished that year in the top 10, jumping Jose Reyes (108), Ed Kranepool (118), Edgardo Alfonzo (120), Kevin McReynolds (122), Hundley (124), Lucas Duda (125) and Michael Conforto (132).
A 46-homer season in 2023 pushed him past Beltran and Kingman and into a fourth-place tie with Johnson at 192. The three Mets that remained above him all have their numbers retired by the team.
He passed Mike Piazza with No. 221 in Arizona last Aug. 29. He hurdled David Wright with No. 243 on June 8 in Colorado.
And, finally, Strawberry.
“Good for him—a homegrown player developed through the farm system just like us—to have great history here,” Strawberry told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com in June. “No one can ever take that away from you once you have done that, and that’s what baseball is all about.”
The Beatles sang Strawberry Fields Forever. Strawberry’s home run record lasted 37 years.
