December 2025 . . .
The Polar Bear is moving south, where ownership
will welcome him with open arms and wallets. He
was a Met as he lived and breathed for seven seasons
and now, like Seaver, deGrom, Strawberry and Gooden,
Pete Alonso will not be a life-long New York Met. He will
not join Ed Kranepool, David Wright, Jerry Grote, Ron
Hodges and Terry Leach in holding that rare honor. The
Polar Bear will transform into an Oriole but human nature
will sing him the song of the passionate Met fans from the
recesses of his re-acclimating mind whenever he steps up
to bat. Real folks will stand and cheer the first time he returns
to Citi Field, knowing that the next time Pete wears a Met
uniform sporting Number 20 will be the first time the sinewy
first baseman returns to shake hands and hugs his fellow
old -timers. Right now, that’s a difficult image to conjure up.
It’s wrong to say there’s no crying in baseball, former Met
Wilmer Flores excepted. Many fan-tears will be shed for Pete
but they will be hidden from view – for longer than you’d think.
Met management doesn’t get it, how deeply and how long
it hurts the denizens of the stands and the TV screen.
THE POETRY OF THE GAME