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Pete Alonso was driving home Tuesday night when he saw a Puerto Rico number appear on his phone.
A Mets official told the first player shortly before the call could arrive, but it was no less surreal to answer the phone and hear Carlos Beltran appear on the other end of the line.
Beltran called to congratulate Alonso for breaking the Mets season record. The 24-year-old squashed his 42nd circuit in Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Cubs, surpassing the mark Beltran previously shared with Todd Hundley.
"Talking with him was great, because growing up, watching him play, it's like I respected him tremendously because he was able to do in the baseball game," Alonso told The Post on Wednesday. before the Mets continue their series with the Cubs. "Having a guy like that calls me, a rookie, it's really cool."
The two never met and never spoke until Tuesday. Beltran said in a statement issued by the Mets that it was a "pleasure to see an excellent young player like Pete Alonso beat my record".
Most of the other calls and text messages that were found on Alonso's phone following his record night were passed by close friends, family members or former coaches. He tried to answer as many of them as possible, thanks for helping him reach this point.
A day later, Alonso still did not feel quite real.
"Waking up today was crazy," Alonso said. "But I still do not think he's completely engulfed. I liked it [Tuesday] At night, I enjoyed this morning, but I do not think it's going to come true – what this season has meant to me and what this thing encompasses, it's not going to really settle down before we have finished playing this year.
"Right now, it's like, I have to focus on [Wednesday’s Cubs starter Kyle] Hendricks. I have to focus on victory today because it's my job. I really enjoyed the moment and it was extremely special, but I still have not quite understood my mind. That's crazy.
Alonso watched the broadcast of his 42nd exit home "several times," he said. That too was strange.
"It's really weird to look at myself. It's like, man, it's me. It's crazy, "he said.
This was the last feat of Alonso's memorable rookie season – which also included the Home Run Derby win, being named All-Star and his fan-favorite spot in Queens, while the Mets compete for the playoffs.
"He deserved it," said The Post general manager Brodie Van Wagenen. "He believed in himself and did not shrink from any challenge."
The first was to get the coach out of the spring. Alonso could not be called in September last season, but told Port St. Lucie determined to win the first player position. He proved it with a strong spring and Van Wagenen rewarded him by placing it on the opening list of the day rather than starting it at Triple-A – what the Mets could have done to manipulate his duty time and keep him under club control for a while. year.
The way this decision played served the Mets better than they would have hoped.
"I do not think you can ever predict how a guy will behave," said Van Wagenen. "I told someone the other day that I thought we could get 40 home runs from the first base job this year during spring training. We did not know who it would be, nor what kind of combination. We assumed it would be a combination of players. The fact that we already have 42 of Pete is pretty impressive. "
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