Pete Alonso asking if David Ortiz’s money gun was real was the sneaky best moment of Derby night

Few players in baseball history have taken the Home Run Derby as seriously at New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso, something he’s taken some flak for over the last two years. He didn’t help himself on Monday night in Los Angeles when, before his first turn at the plate, he was deadlifting in full uniform:

Naturally, Twitter was set ablaze when the Mets decided it would be a good idea to post this, with 99.9 percent of people calling him a hardo. The other 0.01 percent, AKA Mets fans, loved the move, even though they’d be the first people to hammer their precious polar bear if he was wearing a different jersey. 

The actual, unbiased verdict? It was a bit much, especially in retrospect. Alonso failed to make the finals, losing to 21-year-old Seattle Mariners rookie Julio Rodriguez, who has 16 homers to Alonso’s 24 on the year. But there is one thing we’re all forgetting when it comes to Alonso’s passion for the Derby, and it’s the fact that the winner takes home $1 million. Not sure if you’re up on the details of Alonso’s contract, but he’s “only” making $7.4 million this year, enough to live comfortably but certainly not nearly enough for the numbers he produces. 

Also, he’s obviously a fierce competitor, one who takes no days off, Derby included. But the money has to be a factor, too. Case in point, this hilarious pre-Derby moment with Alonso, Juan Soto and Boston Red Sox legend-turned FOX analyst David Ortiz. During the FOX preview show, Ortiz broke out his golden money gun to “make it rain” on Soto, who, you may have heard, just turned down $440 million from the Washington Nationals. Alonso, who isn’t due to get pizzzzaid until 2025 when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, began sccoping up the clearly fake dollar bills and then genuinely asks “are these real?”:

Knowing Alonso’s personality, he was likely half-joking, half-serious here. Again, $7.4 million is nothing to scoff at, but the man was doing deadlifts in the hopes it would help him scrounge up another million. Our man desperately needs to get paid. 

Ironically enough, Soto went on to win the Derby and the $1 million prize, an amount of money he’ll soon be using as toilet paper in one of the 20 bathrooms in his mansion(s).