Q&A with Mets first baseman Pete Alonso
Pete Alonso #20 of the New York Mets looks on during the sixth inning against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on Wednesday, Sep. 25, 2019 in the Queens borough of New York City. Credit: Jim McIsaac
You know all about Pete Alonso's record-setting 2019 rookie season on the field. But what makes the Mets first baseman tick off the field? As the Mets open an unprecedented, shortened 2020 season, Alonso talks about being himself, his favorite baseball movie, and why he is excited to play for rookie manager Luis Rojas in a Q&A with Newsday reporter Anthony Rieber.
Q: You know that scene in “Bull Durham” where Kevin Costner tells Tim Robbins to always speak in clichés when he gets to the majors and does interviews? Did anyone ever give you that advice along the way and why have you completely ignored it?
A: I think that’s the best way, in my opinion. For me, I’m not going to say something that I don’t believe in or that I don’t think carries any weight. I just always want to be myself. What I’ve actually heard is, ‘Just be yourself.’ Because I think being yourself is a lot more important than being a different version of yourself. Be a full version of yourself.
Q: What’s your favorite baseball movie?
I loved “Bull Durham” – when they’re talking about chicken, ‘Oh, somebody needs a chicken. We need to sacrifice a chicken for his glove.’ That mound visit. That little jibber-jabber there. I think most baseball movies are really cheesy. It's not the same as going through it in real life. I mean, it's funny because you have actors try and do baseball things when they have no idea what they're doing and it's like, ‘Oh, my God, people eat this up.’ It's like the directors are like, ‘Go do baseball stuff’ and they kind of do like the cliché of what they think it is. But I think the best baseball movie, like informative baseball movie, is “Moneyball.” I feel like that’s as pretty close to how as close as it gets to real life in Hollywood, I guess.
Q: You’ve had two, almost three managers already in your time up here (Mickey Callaway, Carlos Beltran and Luis Rojas) and you’ve been positive about all three. Is it possible that you're just a positive guy and then whoever they brought in you would say you’re excited to play for him?
A: Absolutely. I'm a positive guy. But Mick was awesome having me because I went to his office a lot. He let me bend his ear. He was an open book, like willing to give me advice and he helped me get better. He helped me progress throughout the season and I feel like that's a really awesome quality to have as a manager. I was excited. Mick was my first big-league manager. He's always going to be special. And, I mean, he's going to do great things in his coaching career. I can see him managing again in the future one day. Beltran, he's like a future Hall of Famer. He just has so much knowledge and had such as illustrious career. I mean, that'd be awesome . . . And for Luis, all this is just really positive because he rose through the ranks as a manager. He paid his dues in the minors just like all those players did and he's got a lot of familiar guys -- any person that came through the Mets system, they went through Luis. I had him in '17 and '18. I loved every second playing for him. I consider myself lucky to have had those options. That's just a testament to the team wanting to put the best guy in leadership.
Q: How did you do it? How did you go from not having a major league at-bat to the season you had last year, Rookie of the Year and setting an all-time home run record and all that?
A: It wasn't just the one season. There's like this cliche saying, ‘It takes 10,000 or 15,000 hours just to be a one-hit wonder or to be an overnight success.' All the work, all the practice -- I've been playing ball since I was 3. People never saw what I was doing until I stepped in for this one moment, which is last year, and it all came together really nicely and I'm just blessed that I got the opportunity out of camp. Last season, it was awesome individually, but I'm playing with fire because I want to not only get to the postseason but hold up a trophy at the end of the year. Motivation is still at an all-time high for me. Last year, I was hungry to make a club and this year it's like we’ve got the pieces to do something special. I’m hungry to make something cool happen.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
