Johnny Mize, Willie Mays, and Pete Alonso.
As noted by Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions, in the annals of New York National League baseball, that trio are the only three to ever hit 51 homers in a season. The first two are Hall of Famers, and Alonso, well, he is just scratching the surface.
En route to joining Darryl Strawberry as the only Mets players to win the Rookie of the Year award, Alonso is not just getting his name in the record books, he’s rewriting them.
This year, he already owns the Mets single season records for homers and extra base hits. He has set record for most homers in a season at Citi Field and homers hit by a Mets player at home.
He has surpassed Cody Bellinger for homers by a National League rookie and Mark McGwire for homers by a rookie first baseman. He’s also the only rookie ever to have 50 homers and 30 doubles.
With his next homer, he ties Aaron Judge for the all-time rookie record. As alluded to earlier, it will also be a New York National League record. It will also be a record for New York first baseman. That puts him ahead of all-time greats like Mize and Lou Gehrig.
At the moment, his 51 homers puts him two ahead of Eugenio Suarez for both the National League and Major League home run title. If he holds on, he will be the first ever rookie to lead the Majors in homers.
Alonso would join Dave Kingman, Strawberry, and fellow number 20, Howard Johnson, as the only Mets to lead the league in homers. He’d be the only Mets player to lead the Majors in homers.
In addition to the 51 homers, Alonso has 118 RBI. As you can imagine, this once again puts him in an elite group.
As noted by MMO‘s Michael Mayer, Alonso joins Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Mays, and Ralph Kiner as the only players younger than 25 years old to have 51 homers and 118 RBI. Of that group, only Foxx and Alonso did that while hitting 30 homers.
Looking at Alonso’s season, he has set a number of records, and he’s put himself in categories with players like Foxx, Gehrig, Kiner, Mantle, Mays, and Mize. In the end, that’s perhaps the best way to summarize how great Alonso’s season has been.
