By Tim Healey
Newsday
CLEVELAND — For Pete Alonso, who has been rewriting the Mets’ record books as a rookie, making the All-Star team and competing in the Home Run Derby were just a couple of items on his long list of goals. They were far from guarantees at season’s start, but not exactly surprises, either, in his eyes. He considers it the product of hard work and self-belief and, let’s be honest, prodigious power.
But what struck him Monday, as he sat in a nondescript ballroom in a Cleveland convention center with many of the best baseball players in the world/his temporary teammates, was who was absent.
“The most appalling thing,” Alonso said, “is I’m an All-Star and my idol —the guy I want to emulate —is Paul Goldschmidt, and he’s not here. And I am. That’s the most humbling thing about this.”
Alonso traces his baseball fandom through a series of right-handed-hitting, right-handed-throwing slugger first basemen —players like himself —from Mark McGwire to Paul Konerko to Goldschmidt. For the first time since 2012, Goldschmidt is not an All-Star as he endures a relative down season in his first year with the Cardinals, underscoring to Alonso the fickle nature of success in baseball.
That relates to an Alonso family philosophy: Don’t act like you’ve been there before. Relish each incredible experience —such as playing in the All-Star Game or even a major-league game —and refuse to become numb to how cool it all is.
The All-Star goings-on last year, when Alonso highlighted the Futures Game with one of his signature long home runs, foreshadowed what has come this year. That experience has helped him digest the excitement this week.
“I still see myself as just a kid, you know?” said Alonso, 24. “(The Futures Game) definitely put a lot of things in perspective heading into this year because I want to be able to soak everything in, because I don’t want anything to pass me by. I don’t want to forget anything. I want to open my eyes and look around, you know? Because this is a really special event, and I just want to enjoy every single moment.”
After Carlos Santana —the hometown favorite at Progressive Field as the Indians’ representative —hit 13 homers in the first round, Alonso got off to a slow start but rallied late. He hit his 14th —a walk-off, if you will —with 1 second left in regulation. (Alonso didn’t need the 30-second bonus he earned by hitting at least two homers at least 440 feet.)
Alonso beat the Braves’ Ronald Acuna Jr. in the semifinals on another walk-off, hitting his 20th home run at the buzzer, topping Acuna’s 19 to advance to the final against Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Alonso didn’t need his 30-second bonus in the final, defeating Guerrero, who hit a Home Run Derby record 91 total home runs, 23-22.
Alonso’s Derby pitcher was his cousin, Derek Morgan, a former college second baseman. Long a fan of the homer-hitting contest, and with an eye toward competing in it this year, Alonso began recruiting Morgan for this task during the Mets’ season-opening series in Washington —in March, before Alonso had even hit a major-league homer. When Alonso’s participation became reality, Morgan spent last week in New York, practicing with his cousin before the Mets’ games at Citi Field.
Dingers are fun, but Alonso also wanted to use the opportunity to give back. He said if he won the $1 million prize, he would donate 10% to charities —half to Wounded Warrior Project, half to Tunnel to Towers.
“There are people making sacrifices every single day abroad, keeping us free, and then there’s people at home keeping us safe,” Alonso said. “I have the utmost respect for people who put their lives on the line and are first responders. It’s something I felt really passionate about. For me, donating the money is whatever, but I’m hoping I can inspire other people and use my platform as a positive message and bring awareness.”
