New York Mets manager Buck Showalter wants slugger Pete Alonso to better censor himself during post-game interviews.
“I get to hear some things he says in the dugout and some things he shouldn’t say outside the dugout here and there, although that’s a story for another day, even though I’m sure it will be here shortly,” Showalter said of Alonso during an appearance on ESPN New York’s “The Michael Kay Show,” as shared by Brandon Contes of Awful Announcing.
Specifically, Showalter was referencing how Alonso let an f-bomb fly while speaking on the field with SNY shortly after he delivered a walk-off home run in last Wednesday’s come-from-behind 8-7 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Alonso typically shortens the phrase to “L-F-G-M” (“let’s f—— go Mets”) but went with the R-rated version last week, presumably out of excitement.
Showalter admitted he was bothered by Alonso’s use of the naughty word.
“I learned my lesson a long time ago,” Showalter explained. “My mother could read lips and boy, that Sunday drive home after a day game when I would always holler and put the phone on speaker, she would tell me, and I always felt horrible. Yeah, it’s not a good idea and I don’t think you’ll see it happen again. I hope not.”
Showalter added players such as Alonso should know when using such language is and isn’t appropriate.
“It’s just the venue you put it in, and people are always listening here and it’s just unfortunate because I don’t want somebody’s day at the ballpark to be less than it could be because of something someone heard that shouldn’t hear it,” Showalter said.
Showalter isn’t alone. For a piece published last Thursday, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post blasted Alonso for having “no sense of genuine class” during the post-victory chat. Mushnick even suggested big-spending Mets owner Steve Cohen should “see fit to straighten (Alonso) out as per the best common decency interests of all.”
Alonso and the 25-24 Mets have bigger things to worry about, as they began Wednesday trailing the first-place Atlanta Braves by four-and-a-half games in the National League East standings. The Amazins will try to keep things clean when they play at the 21-26 Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.
