If you've followed our football teams, watched the Knicks, or are waiting for Kevin Durant to return to the court, you know that the Big Apple is becoming the armpit of American pro sports.
Another thing the Knicks, Nets, Jets, and Giants have in common is a lack of burgeoning young stars, a core of kids who will turn this tanker around and restore NYC to its proper place in the aristocracy. Even the Yankees, set to reclaim their crown as our nation's greatest franchise, were whipped in the ALCS, making this just the second calendar decade over the last century in which they did not win a World Series.
So perhaps it's ironic that the Mets have become a 24-hour oasis in this wasteland.
Pete Alonzo was just named NL Rookie of the Year, in a vote that was more formality than a fight. (Alonso would have been a unanimous choice if not for some yokel who voted for Mike Soroka of the Braves.) The Mets slugger clubbed 53 home runs in his maiden MLB season, nudging past Aaron Judge for the all-time mark. Alonso's 120 RBI were the most by a rookie since Albert Pujols drove in 130 runs in 2001. He also finished in the NL's top-ten in slugging, on-base plus slugging, and runs scored.
And Alonso was the symbol of the Mets' surge in the second half of the 2019 season, kicking it off by beating Vladimir Guerrero Jr in the Home Run Derby. While many great hitters lament the signature contest of the Midsummer Classic, griping that it hurls them into a two-month slump, Alonso hit 23 round-trippers and knocked-in 52 runs in the 73 games after the All-Star Game. Alonso's heroics were central to the Mets turning a moribund 40-50 start into a robust 86-76 record to end the season.
Alonso could have been just another entrant in baseball's endless numbers motif, with analytics replacing the characteristics of our pastime. More and more the new-age algorithms strip the carnival joy from the sport, reducing players to a series of three-letter metrics - OBP, SLG, OPS, WAR, etc. But Alonso reminded us that baseball is fun, tearing off his jersey after a game-winning hit, his torso jiggling while he danced with his teammates, living up to his handle, Polar Bear, a name given to him by Todd Frazier.
No matter our specific sports loyalties, we should thank Alonso, who reminded us that baseball is still a game. Even as the business end of sports steps on the fun, and we are schooled on the importance of discipline and character, it's nice to see that characters still win, too. Alonso did more than hit jaw-dropping homers or drive in a number of runs, or beef up his stats. He reminded us that baseball was built to be fun before business molded it into a soporific contest of salary caps.
Along with Jeff McNeil, Alonso is part of a dynamic MLB duo that should lead the Mets for years to come. Alonso turns 25 next month, and should have a decade of tape-measure shots left in his thunderous bat, while fellow rookie McNeil - who finished the season with a .318 batting average - should be the primary runner he pushes around the bases.
The news on Alonso comes on the heels of the Mets naming Carlos Beltran as their manager. Beltran, who knows something about big hits in the Big Apple - he blasted 149 homers in nearly seven years with the Mets - should breath some extra life into a team that has to start seasons as well as they finish them. And for one cold, gray November day, as we toil in the collective incompetence of our NFL and NBA squads, we are reminded why New York City is still a baseball town.
Even as the NFL owns the ratings and the NBA has the longest global reach, MLB reaches farthest back into our city's soul. Going back to Brooklyn against the Bronx, and when they played games at the Polo Grounds, baseball has been passed like a baton across the generations. Baseball has no clock, no tie games, and a singular place in our hearts. So it's fitting that retro player named Pete Alonso, goofball slugger with a 1950s body, is the fresh face of baseball in 2019, and beyond.
You can follow Jason on Twitter: @JasonKeidel
