The Goofy Kid at a Thousand

The Goofy Kid

At the University of Florida, Pete Alonso fouled a batting-practice pitch off his own face in the cage. Blood sprayed, his nose sat askew, and his teammates cracked up — such mishaps seemed typical for the goofy slugger. His roommate Logan Shore remembered a guy who rode a longboard around campus and ate takeout steak with his hands. In college, Alonso told an ESPN crew he wanted to be remembered as the goofy kid who diesels baseball.

His mother Michelle, a former college softball player from Ohio, used to throw him batting practice with assorted objects when he was a child growing up in Tampa.

On May 27 of this year, wearing an Orioles uniform, he collected his 1,000th career hit. He is 31.

Queens and After

Most of the number came in New York. Born in Tampa — where he attended Henry B. Plant High School after two years at Jesuit — Alonso played at Florida before the Mets took him 64th overall in 2016 and signed him for $909,200. He debuted March 28, 2019, spent seven seasons in Queens, and is in Baltimore this year, his eighth major-league season. He won the Jackie Robinson NL Rookie of the Year in 2019, a season that also brought the first of his five All-Star selections.

Todd Frazier watched the burly rookie — 6-foot-3, 245 pounds — stretch and called him Polar Bear. Off the field, Alonso is a history buff who fills team bus rides with jokes and local facts about the cities they visit. In early 2024 spring training, he pulled aside Jesse Winker — not a teammate, fighting for a roster spot after a rough year — and told him to win the job. Winker later said the unexpected encouragement meant a lot.

Alonso hunts in the offseason, cooking elk and venison. He met his wife Haley in the Cape Cod League in 2015, married her in Tampa in 2021, and their son Teddy was born last September.

He plays first base in Baltimore.

Reporting: The Athletic, MLB.com, New York Post, People, Wikipedia. Career and biographical data: MLB StatsAPI, via the Fever engine.