These pictures of Pete Alonso playing with puppies are guaranteed to make you smile
O's first baseman and wife, Haley, make $10,000 donation to local Baltimore animal shelter
BALTIMORE -- A dry-erase whiteboard inside of Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter on Tuesday afternoon had the following message written on it: "Polar Bears Welcome!"
Not all polar bears, of course. But the Polar Bear, Pete Alonso, who has been quick to ingratiate himself within the Baltimore community since the 31-year-old first baseman signed a five-year, $155 million deal with the Orioles on Dec. 11.
Alonso and his wife, Haley, love animals. So it was a no-brainer for them to stop by BARCS -- a local shelter not far from Camden Yards -- to make one of their first charitable acts since coming to Charm City. Through The Alonso Foundation, the couple made a $10,000 donation and took a tour of the facility, visiting the dogs and cats currently housed there.
"BARCS just does such great things, heard about all the lovely stuff that they do here in the community. Just want to support them any way we can, because we love animals," Alonso said. "We’re here in Baltimore, we want to be like, ‘Yeah, OK, we’re here, but not just living here. We want to be able to support the local communities and local organizations any way we can.’
"It’s not just baseball for us. We want to embrace everything. Not just living here, but being able to give back to the community any way we can. And we think this is an awesome first start for us."
As Alonso spoke to the local media at BARCS, he held a brown and white puppy named Fletcher, a mixed breed believed to be about 4-5 months old. The dog quickly took a liking to Alonso, who played with him shortly after entering the doors of the facility and fed him some treats.
But Alonso wanted to hold Fletcher during his interview, making sure to state how he hoped to help get the puppy -- and the others at BARCS -- forever homes in the near future.
Baltimore surely knew the type of player it was getting in Alonso. That's been apparent in recent days, including Monday night, when he slugged a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning of a come-from-behind 9-7 win over the D-backs.
To Alonso, though, the off-the-field stuff is equally as important, if not more so.
"We love to give back and show appreciation for all the support that we've got," Alonso said. "Wherever we're at, we always want to give support to the people that support us, and Baltimore has welcomed us with open arms. We're really happy to be here and this to be the first thing that we do."
Alonso and his wife launched The Alonso Foundation in 2020. Not only do they use it to support animal welfare, but also the youth and veterans. It has the simple goal of wanting to "change the rules to make life better for people," as it says on the foundation's website.
But helping out rescue dogs has been a big part of Alonso's vision. He and his wife own two small dogs -- a Boston Terrier named Brody and a Boston Terrier/French Bulldog mix named Apollo.
"They're easy to travel with in the baseball season," Alonso said. "They're just a huge part of our lives. Love them to pieces, and they're part of the family. For us, we saw we were able to make an impact, not just on the dogs' lives, but having them as part of the family has totally changed our lives for the better."
During the Alonso family's tour of BARCS, they stopped to pet various dogs and cats. At one point, Alonso visited a dog named Carlton, who has already been adopted and waiting to be picked up by his new parents.
The afternoon ended with Alonso and his wife presenting BARCS with their donation and posing for a group picture with the employees and volunteers at the shelter.
For Alonso, this is one of the best parts of his job as a professional baseball player.
"It's really a blessing. It's such a blessing," Alonso said. "To direct funds and attention to organizations that deserve it, we love finding those people who do good things."