Pete Alonso explains the meaningful story behind his new No. 25 with the Orioles

Pete Alonso has been formally introduced as a Baltimore Orioles player, a move many anticipated and one that Mets fans are surely lamenting. He will now wear a new number, No. 25, which holds a special family connection.

Alonso himself confessed that the number on his jersey is significant because it represents the year he and his wife welcomed their first child, born in 2025. It should be recalled that he wore No. 20 during his seven years with the Mets, but that number was unavailable in Baltimore.

Alonso will command a $31 million average annual salary with the Orioles for the next five years, but he stated money was not the sole factor in choosing Baltimore. “As the offseason progressed and we got further along, this partnership was head and shoulders above everybody else. This park, this city, this organization, everything just clicked.”

Why couldn’t alonso get No. 20 with the Orioles?

That number is retired. No. 20 belonged to Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, and therefore Alonso could not choose the number he had become accustomed to wearing with the Mets. Before Alonso selected No. 25, that jersey was worn by players including Anthony Santander, Bud Norris, Rich Dauer, and Jackie Brandt, according to Baseball Almanac.

The significance of Robinson’s number was not lost on the organization. “David Rubenstein compares the addition of Pete Alonso to the Orioles’ trade for Frank Robinson ahead of the 1966 season: ‘The result was we won a World Series that year, and we beat a team named the Los Angeles Dodgers, who people thought were unbeatable,’” reported Jacob Calvin Meyer on X.

Alonso calls Baltimore ‘home’ after time in New York

Alonso spent seven years with the Mets, but according to his own words, he is already ready to call his new team “home.” “I enjoyed playing in New York. There’s some amazing people over there… But (Baltimore), I’m so proud to call it home.”