Given a Chance, Alonso Making Fans Dance

Don McLean sings in the first verse of “American Pie,” “And I knew if I had my chance/That I could make those people dance/And maybe they’d be happy for awhile.”

The 1971 folk rock hit is Pete Alonso‘s new walk-up song and he has been making Mets fans happy in the playoffs. He stayed hot after his signature career moment in Milwaukee, adding two home runs in the National League Division Series. Overall, he’s 6-for-22 with three home runs, six RBIs, five runs scored and seven walks. His October slash line for the seven postseason games is .273/.433/.727/1.161.

“I mean, it’s surreal,” he said in an interview on the field after the series-clinching Game 4 win over the Phillies in the NLDS. “I know we’ve been working for this, tirelessly. I know these people, these fans have been waiting a long time. I mean look at this. This is a scene. This is storybook. This is a dream come true.”

Where in McLean’s song “them good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye,” Alonso chugged a drink and blew a kiss to the crowd. With a cigar in one hand and a drink in the other, he hugged David Stearns. It was the day the Phillies’ playoff hopes died.

“Can’t replicate it,” he said. “This is playoff baseball. This is what you dream about. This is what we work for all year. I mean this place is a zoo. It’s unbelievable.”

Alonso hit 34 home runs for the season, but before his ninth-inning blast against the Brewers he hadn’t homered since Sept. 19. He hit four home runs in September with a .720 OPS. Maybe his swing was lost in space. But with October, there was time to start again.

“This is all time,” he said amidst the helter-skelter locker room celebration. “Wow! All time! Wow, I mean this is what you work all offseason for. This is what spring training and the regular season is all about. This is euphoric.”

What did he make of Francisco Lindor‘s grand slam? Did it touch him deep inside?

“He just stayed within himself, took a nice short compact swing and man oh man he connected with that ball,” Alonso said. “It just absolutely exploded off his barrel. Just a beautiful swing. Right man. Right spot. Right time. What a swing. So happy for him, but man. I mean, wow. Wow, wow, wow!”

So, a reporter asked Alonso, why “American Pie”?

“I mean, why not?” Alonso shot back. “It’s a good song. It came up on shuffle and I’m like, ‘Oh, this would be sick. Yeah, this could be really fun.’ And it was.”

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