Pete Alonso has a plus-sized hat to match his new Orioles contract.
The now-former Mets slugger was introduced in Baltimore on Friday, and donned some special attire for the moment.
He added a mascot-sized hat to his black suit, cowboy boots and orange belt with a pocket square for a picture with The Oriole Bird — captioned by the Baltimore social team with “New best friend.”
Alonso, the recipient of a five-year, $155 million deal from the Orioles, will now call Camden Yards his home after spending the first seven years of his big league career mashing home runs at Citi Field in Queens.
Among the other changes for the Mets’ all-time home run leader with 264 dingers in his career, is a new uniform number: 25.
“So, 2025 is such a special year for me and my family because we welcomed our son into the world in the year 2025,” he said in a video posted by the Orioles. “So I chose 2025 because of him.”
The team chronicled his first official day as an Oriole, with him taking a tour of Oriole Park and its confines, including the locker room for a photo shoot in his new digs.
He’ll have a familiar face along for the ride with him, as Baltimore also snapped up reliever Ryan Helsley on the free agent market on a two-year deal.
Alonso thanked Amazin’s fans in a social media post on Thursday night.
“New York, thank you,” the post read. “These last few years have shaped me in ways I’ll carry for the rest of my life. This city demands your best and I’m proud to look back knowing I gave everything I had into earning the privilege of wearing that jersey.”
“Thank you for the passion. Thank you for the love. Even the tough love that comes with playing for New York. When it came time for first pitch, thank you for being electric through it all. Thank you for getting rowdy every time I stepped up to the plate and made the building shake when the ball found a seat over the wall. Your energy fueled me more than you’ll ever know. You believed in me, and you made me better.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
