Alonso
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2024 11:50 pm
if you're like me, you've thrilled to Long Beach High School this spring as they've gone 17–7–1 (10–4–1 in league play) while competing in Nassau County's Conference AA-1.
Among the reasons for that excellence is my friend Mark's incredible work fathering a child that is bigger and faster than he ever was (and Mark was both a fast and powerful guy in his day). His son Alonso is the sweet-swinging, lefty-slugging, rightfielder/pitcher for that Long Beach team. Alonso has committed to Manhattanville, which is perhaps my favorite college campus, but isn't exactly a big time program. On the other hand Manhattanville College has just this year become Manhattanville University, so ... go, Valiants!)
I'm not so sure, based on that commitment, that he's going to get drafted. Mark thinks the Padres scouts like him, but that may just be because we grew up in a time where being a Padre was baseball purgatory, so he just sees that as a likely absurdity. Mark is a very unusual man.
He always had a strange charisma that allowed him to talk anybody into anything. He met Dwight Gooden at an autograph event a few years ago, and he knew the drill. Give the guy something to sign, shake his hand, and move on. But he had the moxie to ask Gooden to show his then-14-year-old son how to throw a curve. Gooden was happy to oblige (moreso than the event organizers) Alonso stepped behind the table and got a five-minute tutorial in how to snap one off, while Mark shmoozed with the people behind him in line to keep them from getting grumpy.
I post this here because Mark is a huge Mets guy, always has been, and I demand the Mets draft Alonso.
Among the reasons for that excellence is my friend Mark's incredible work fathering a child that is bigger and faster than he ever was (and Mark was both a fast and powerful guy in his day). His son Alonso is the sweet-swinging, lefty-slugging, rightfielder/pitcher for that Long Beach team. Alonso has committed to Manhattanville, which is perhaps my favorite college campus, but isn't exactly a big time program. On the other hand Manhattanville College has just this year become Manhattanville University, so ... go, Valiants!)
I'm not so sure, based on that commitment, that he's going to get drafted. Mark thinks the Padres scouts like him, but that may just be because we grew up in a time where being a Padre was baseball purgatory, so he just sees that as a likely absurdity. Mark is a very unusual man.
He always had a strange charisma that allowed him to talk anybody into anything. He met Dwight Gooden at an autograph event a few years ago, and he knew the drill. Give the guy something to sign, shake his hand, and move on. But he had the moxie to ask Gooden to show his then-14-year-old son how to throw a curve. Gooden was happy to oblige (moreso than the event organizers) Alonso stepped behind the table and got a five-minute tutorial in how to snap one off, while Mark shmoozed with the people behind him in line to keep them from getting grumpy.
I post this here because Mark is a huge Mets guy, always has been, and I demand the Mets draft Alonso.