As Pete Alonso was driving to Orlando to meet with the Red Sox and Orioles and take a step toward leaving the Mets, the slugger whose franchise home-run record he broke was hoping for an 11th-hour reversal of fortune.
“It’s an unfortunate situation for him to be in once again,” Darryl Strawberry told The Post on Monday night at the SBH Health “NY Team of Heros” Gala at Pier Sixty. “But it’s truly going to be up to him what his legacy will be: Will it be New York, or will you walk away for a lot of money? Sometimes the money is not all that important when you are trying to have a legacy and a career where you are trying to win. When you win here, nobody ever forgets you. Hopefully, he can understand that. Hopefully, he can stick around.”
Indeed, 35 years after his last game for the Mets, Strawberry was the guest of honor at a gala that brought out Lawrence Taylor, O.J. Anderson and dozens of current Giants and Jets.
Once upon a time, he left the Mets as a mega free agent to sign with the Dodgers and later finished his career with the Yankees.