Pete Alonso is off on a career jetting skyward with an off the field persona nearly as perfect. The burden remains heavy, so remember, kids are listening.
Pete Alonso‘s exuberance on and off the field is like the catchy riff in a popular song. It gets in your head, and you are captured and captivated.
No one can imagine what the world looks like to a 25-year-old who, only a year ago, was walking his way through the Mets Spring Training with the singular goal of making the team.
A year later, all the numbers he put up, along with the accolades and awards he won, are duly recorded in the annals of major league baseball under the name, Peter Morgan Alonso.
Beyond all that, however, something more significant may have emerged. New York discovered a folk hero with charm and character that befit the idolization of the young man kids began to know as “Polar Bear.”
Pete Alonso And Two Missteps
So, life is good for Pete Alonso. What could go wrong? Well, nothing (really) yet. But there are a couple of things that are a cause for concern.
And if the Mets haven’t already pointed them out to Alonso, I’ll do so here.
Speaking casually with a reporter, Alonso noted that his number one goal is to win a World Series title with the Mets in 2020. Nothing noteworthy there, it’s what fans have to expect from Alonso. But then he goes on to add: (Bleacher Report)
“I want to be sitting on a parade float drunk as hell,” the reigning National League Rookie of the Year said Saturday, via The Record‘s Justin Toscano.
We can guess that Alonso’s use of “drunk as hell” is only a metaphor he chose to accent just how serious and determined he is to capture that title. But kids are hanging on every word he utters and everything he does. It’s part of the territory he now inhabits, like it or not.
Strike two as a cause for concern is a bit more direct and you can see it here in the image of Pete Alonso’s Twitter handle:
Do you see the problem? L-F-G-M. “Let’s F_____n Go Mets”.
Alonso And Coping With Life In The Fishbowl
Again, there is nothing earthshattering here, unless it’s an indication of a developing trend, at which point Pete Alonso occasionally forgets who he is – and what he represents to the Mets, fans, and especially the kids who idolize him.
We know the history of the Mets and how if anything can go wrong – it will. In the case of Alonso, the Mets have uncovered a gem.
But he is still a kid in a man’s body. More mature than most his age, but still susceptible to misstep on occasion.
I’m not suggesting Pete Alonso is setting himself up to become the next fallen hero the Mets seem to manufacture – Lenny Dykstra, Dwight Gooden, Wally Backman, Darryl Strawberry – the line is long.
But the missteps noted here should warrant someone taking Alonso aside to whisper in his ear, “C’mon, Pete. You’re better than this.”
Once again, Pete Alonso has stepped up to set the eyes of his team on the prize.
And seeing a parade float going down the streets of Queens with Alonso and the Mets celebrating their first championship since 1986, aglow with that broad smile of his, is a much better picture than the image he described.
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
