Bobby Bonilla on Pete Alonso: "I think the Mets are gonna miss him, and Baltimore is gonna love him”
The circumstances aren’t an exact duplicate. Pete Alonso played only for the Mets before the Orioles signed him as a free agent. Bobby Bonilla split his first season between the White Sox and Pirates, signed with the Mets in December 1991, his deferred money through 2035 creating a legendary deal, and got traded to the Orioles at the 1995 deadline.
That’s close enough for Bonilla to relate.
Bobby Bo knows about going from New York to Baltimore.
“It was fantastic,” Bonilla said yesterday in a video call. “I got a chance to play with Cal Ripken. He broke the (consecutive games) record that year. We were a very good hitting team. I mean, if I’m not mistaken, we led the league in home runs. I think we had like (seven) guys hit 20 or more bombs in that lineup.”
The Orioles belted a then-record 257 home runs and had eight players finish in double digits, led by Brady Anderson’s 50. Jeffrey Hammonds hit nine to just fall short.
“They were all such a pleasure to play with,” Bonilla said. “Cal was just amazing. The city was amazing, the food was amazing. I could just keep going on. I can smell Boog’s barbeque right now and I’m sitting here in California.
“The one thing I do remember that really stands out, we were the only game in town (in ’95) at that particular time. The Ravens weren’t quite there yet. When you have the privilege of playing in front of 40,000 every night, it was truly remarkable.”
Bonilla spent 1 ½ seasons with the Orioles, his tenure ending with the playoff loss to the Yankees in ’96 – forever known in Baltimore as the Jeffrey Maier series. He hit .300/.371/.506 with 39 doubles, nine triples, 38 home runs and 162 RBIs in 220 games.
The Marlins signed Bonilla and he won a championship in ’97 before the club was dismantled. He went to the Dodgers, back to the Mets, the Braves and Cardinals until his retirement after the 2001 season – his 16th in the majors.
In a career of this length, the Orioles occupied a modest amount of space in it. Alonso, meanwhile, just signed a five-year, $155 million contract at age 31 and he’s expected to have a significant role for the duration of it. The clubhouse leader, the big bat in the middle of the lineup, the driving force behind a return to the postseason.
“He should have a lot of fun hitting there, because it’s probably a little bit harder at Citi Field,” Bonilla said with a laugh.
“First of all, he’s a great guy. He probably wanted to stay a Met but it didn’t work out. He was that type of a loyal guy. But I think Baltimore found themselves a gem because he’ll be great in the community, he’s a wonderful person, he’s a hell of a baseball player, and he should have fun hitting at Camden Yards. There’s no question about it. I think the Mets are gonna miss him, and Baltimore is gonna love him.”
A team battered by injuries again in 2025 also is drawn to Alonso because of his durability, his ability to play in 162 games in back-to-back seasons, and in 161, 152, 160 and 154 in four other years.
Bonilla appeared in 159, 163 – that's not a typo – 160 and 157 games during a four-year stretch with the Pirates.
“There’s just something about showing up every day,” he said. “You kind of take pride in that. And the mindset I had on playing every day like that was, I didn’t know when the ride would be over, so I wasn’t gonna miss anything. And it’s such a privilege to be a major league player that I did not want to sit down. I just wanted to play. Hell, I was living a dream and that was a beautiful thing.”
The dream never included a role with the Major League Baseball Players Association, but Bonilla has been involved at some level since his retirement. He’s a special assistant for player operations and will be busy again with the fourth annual Playmakers Classic on Feb. 18, 2026 in Phoenix, which is hosted by the Players Trust, the charitable arm of the union.
Proceeds from the Playmakers Classic support the youth sport and educational programs and other player-informed initiatives that empower communities throughout the U.S, as well as internationally.
More than 100 current and former players attended last year’s event, including Bonilla, Corbin Carroll, Stephen Kwan, Miguel Rojas and Michael King. Hall of Famer Dave Winfield received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Philanthropy Award.
“People should expect a great interactive experience,” Bonilla said. “There will be a lot of active and former players there, which should be very exciting for everybody. It’s just a great event for us to raise awareness of what the guys are really doing, the hard work of giving back and the beauty of it.”
Former MLBPA executive director Donald Fehr asked Bonilla to begin working with the union 24 years ago.
“Believe it or not, I got on board because in the early days of the Trust, the people that were running it had asked me to go talk to players about taking a more active role in the organization and in the Trust,” Bonilla said. “Basically that’s how I got into the players association. Don said, ‘You’re doing so much for the trust, why don’t you just come on board?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ I think it just happened organically.”
Click here for more information on the Playmakers Classic.