This is very specific to Pete Alonso and to the Mets, because the 37 home runs that he hit in 2021 are his career-low for a non-pandemic season, and his 35th home run already gave him the Mets record for 35-homer seasons with four, but now he’s also got the Mets record for 37-homer seasons.
It’s not just that 37 is the number of homers Alonso hit two years ago, it’s that 37 was the Mets’ team record for more than a decade, from Dave Kingman doing it in 1976 (breaking his own team record of 36 the previous year to finally eclipse Frank Thomas’ benchmark of 34 in the inaugural season of 1962) until Darryl Strawberry hit 39 in 1987 (and 1988; Kingman also hit 37 in 1982).
Alonso’s 37th homer also is notable because it means we’re now into single-season leaderboard time. There’s a four-way tie for eighth on the club list at 38, so Alonso’s next home run will draw him even with Carlos Delgado (2006, 2008), Howard Johnson (1991), and Mike Piazza (2000).
Strawberry owns both of the Mets’ 39-homer seasons, and then there’s two guys at 40: Alonso last year and Piazza in 1999. After that is the tie for second-most, Todd Hundley’s former team record of 41 from 1996, tied by Carlos Beltrán in 2006. Everything from there to the Polar Bear’s 53 as a rookie in 2019 is open to be claimed as a first for a Met to land on at the end of the year.
We Can Pod It Out 170: Polythene Pam