AI Summary
5 min readWhen Fans Cheer for the Other Team
Pete Alonso hit his 300th career home run against the New York Mets—the team that let him walk in free agency—and the fans at Citi Field gave him a curtain call. A road player, celebrated by the home crowd. Mets pitcher Sean Manaea called it "crazy." Ben Maller called it democracy.
The Polar Bear Returns to Queens
Alonso spent six seasons with the Mets, hitting 264 home runs before the franchise's president of baseball operations, David Stearns, decided not to re-sign him. When Alonso returned as a Baltimore Oriole, Mets fans chanted his name until he emerged from the visiting dugout for a rare road-team curtain call. The next night, he homered again. The crowd's chants shifted from "Pete Alonso" to "Fire Stearns."
Manaea, a pitcher with a 4.70 ERA making $25 million per season, told reporters the reaction was "crazy" and that "the guys in here work their ass off every single day." Maller's response was blunt: "You get paid millions of dollars to do the work. You don't get credit for the work. You're supposed to do the work." He argued that Mets fandom has roots far deeper than Manaea's transaction history—the pitcher has bounced around the league and been with the Mets for only a couple of years. The fans, by contrast, watched Alonso for years, wanted him to stay, and were angry that Stearns let him go while fielding a losing team.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (05:56) **Hour Two Kickoff & Topic Preview** - Ben Maller sets up the hour's baseball-heavy agenda: Pete Alonso's curtain call drama, the Mets' $1.2 billion outfield blunder, and Rafael Devers' trade status.
- 2 (06:57) **Pete Alonso's Curtain Call & Sean Manaea's "Crazy" Complaint** - Ben introduces audio of Mets pitcher Sean Manaea calling it "crazy" that fans gave Orioles slugger Pete Alonso a curtain call at Citi Field.
- 3 (08:36) **Ben's Rant: "You Don't Get Credit for the Work"** - Maller delivers a sharp, extended critique of professional athletes who complain about fan behavior while underperforming on massive contracts.
- 4 (17:22) **The "Billion Dollar Blunder": Lindor, Soto, and Bachet's Pop-Up** - Ben shifts to a viral defensive failure where three Mets superstars let a routine pop-up drop between them in the outfield.
- 5 (20:00) **Symbolism of the Mets' Dysfunction** - Ben expands on the pop-up as a metaphor for the entire organization's current state of failure.
- 6 (22:32) **Rafael Devers' Trade Status & "Hollow Stats"** - Ben discusses reports that Giants slugger Rafael Devers is expected to stay in San Francisco despite trade speculation, but offers a skeptical take.
- 7 (24:36) **The Devers Dilemma: Attitude & the Looming Lockout** - Ben connects Devers' situation to his messy departure from Boston and the broader MLB landscape.
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Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Ben Maller talks about Mets pitcher Sean Manaea saying that it was "crazy" that Mets fans gave Orioles slugger Pete Alonso a curtain call on the road, Mets stars Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Bo Bichette failing to catch a routine pop-up, Benny vs. The Penny TNF Edition, and more!
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