NEW YORK -- Few players in Major League history have gone yard as often and as consistently as Pete Alonso, whose chase of Darryl Strawberry’s franchise home run record became one of this season’s most notable Mets stories.
It’s a tale seven seasons in the making, dating all the way to his first big league homer. Along the way, many others have stood out:
No. 1: April 1, 2019
Perhaps the most significant storyline of Spring Training 2019 was Alonso, whom Mets officials promised to give a fair shot at making the team. Alonso wound up forcing their hand, hitting .352 with four homers that spring to earn a spot on the Opening Day roster. He collected six hits over his first three big league games before finally going deep in Game 4 of the season in Miami.
Bonus: July 8, 2019
In an instant classic Home Run Derby, Alonso hit 23 home runs to power past Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the finals, becoming the second rookie to win the event (and the first Met to win it outright). The Derby quickly became a defining event for Alonso, who took home $1 million in prize money for his victory -- more than he had earned in his career to that point. He wound up donating a portion of it to charity.
No. 31: July 17, 2019
The longest home run of Alonso’s career remains the 489-foot blast he hit into the third deck at Minnesota’s Target Field. To this day, it’s one of the 20 longest homers Statcast has tracked, the longest (by far) by a Met, and the longest by an opponent in Target Field history.
No. 42: Aug. 27, 2019
The Mets’ single-season franchise record of 41 homers, which Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltrán shared, stood for 23 years before Alonso took aim at it. By August, it was clear that Alonso was going to smash that record; he finally did so with an opposite-field solo shot against the Cubs. With that one in the books, Alonso became the first rookie in more than 75 years to claim his franchise’s single-season record.
No. 53: Sept. 28, 2019
Heading into the final weekend of the 2019 season, Alonso needed one homer to match Aaron Judge’s MLB rookie record and two to pass him. He hit the first of them on a Friday evening against the Braves. A night later, Alonso bashed the other off Mike Foltynewicz to set the rookie record. In the postgame clubhouse, Alonso was “overcome with emotion” as he discussed his feat.
No. 61: Sept. 3, 2020
The first walk-off homer of Alonso’s career took place with no fans in the stands. It was still plenty memorable, in large part because it came against the Yankees. After the Mets scraped across two runs in the eighth inning and one in the ninth to force extras at Citi Field, Alonso led off the 10th with a walk-off, two-run homer.
Bonus: July 13, 2021
Alonso’s second Derby win may have been more impressive than his first. He hit 35 homers in the first round of that event, and four total homers of at least 508 feet. Among them was a 514-foot blast that remains one of the three longest in Derby history. The finals weren’t all that close, as Alonso powered past Trey Mancini to win his second Derby crown. Afterward, he beat his chest a bit, saying: “I think I’m the best power hitter on the planet.”
No. 94: Aug. 12, 2021
Give Alonso credit: he backs up his bravado. Four days after delivering an impassioned postgame speech in which he implored Mets fans to “believe in us,” Alonso hit his second career walk-off homer in Game 2 of a doubleheader sweep of the Nationals. The home run was crucial for a Mets team still clinging to postseason contention.
No. 116: May 19, 2022
Another year, another walk-off for Alonso, who beat the Cardinals with a 447-foot shot that approached a glass-encased luxury club in Citi Field’s second deck. Alonso’s strong play early that year was a factor in the Mets’ ability to build a sizeable division lead.
No. 161: May 17, 2023
Alonso’s walk-off, three-run homer in the 10th inning of an 8-7 win over the Rays may not have been the Mets’ biggest hit that night. But it did cap a delirious evening that saw Mark Vientos hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the seventh inning and Francisco Alvarez crush a game-tying, three-run shot in the ninth. That remains one of the most memorable regular-season Mets victories in recent memory. In Tampa Bay’s postgame clubhouse, Rays closer Pete Fairbanks quipped: “Just a very unfortunate time to be the lesser Pete.”
Bonus: Oct. 3, 2024
Every Alonso long ball pales compared to his go-ahead, three-run blast to stun the Brewers in the ninth inning of National League Wild Card Series Game 3 -- one that doesn’t count toward his career total but that’s still, by any definition, one of the most impactful homers in franchise history. Though Alonso has five home runs over 16 career playoff games, none of the others had anything close to this sort of effect.
Nos. 242 and 243: June 8, 2025
When Alonso re-signed in New York last offseason, one implication became immediately clear: he would likely become the franchise’s all-time home run king. Entering the year ranked third on the list, Alonso tied and passed David Wright on the same day in a win over the Rockies. That left only Strawberry above him.
No. 252: Aug. 9, 2025
Back at American Family Field, the site of his stunning go-ahead homer in Game 3 of the 2024 National League Wild Card Series, Alonso tied Strawberry by leading off the second inning of a 7-4 loss with a Statcast-projected 413-foot blast to left-center field. That gave him 252 homers in just 963 games, 143 fewer than Strawberry.
Nos. 253 and 254: Aug. 12, 2025
Three days after tying Strawberry, Alonso passed him with a multi-homer game at Citi Field. The record-setting homer was a lined shot off Spencer Strider to give Alonso sole possession of the record. Three innings later, he added another, beginning his quest of putting the record far out of reach for future generations.