PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Pete Alonso feels lucky to be alive after getting into a brutal car crash in Tampa on the way to spring training on Sunday.
“Yesterday was a really close experience to death,” said Alonso, who was visibly shaken-up on Monday.
Alonso’s car flipped over “probably three times,” he said, after another driver ran through a red light and t-boned his Ford pickup truck. Alonso’s wife, Haley, and their dogs were in a separate car right behind Alonso. He was forced to kick through the car windshield, while the truck was turned on its side, to get out.
The Mets first baseman said he did not suffer any injuries, largely because the other driver hit the passenger side of the truck. Despite the emotional toll, Alonso returned to the field to hit and take ground balls on Monday, though he worked out separately from the team. He plans to join his teammates in a full workout on Tuesday.
“I’m just really thankful to be alive,” he said. “I’m really thankful that I’m healthy, very thankful to be here. Anything can happen at any given moment. Anything can get derailed at any single time.”
Alonso added: “Thank you Ford for having great engineering perspective,” Alonso said.
Haley, who watched the crash happen right in front of her, said in an Instagram post that she slammed on her breaks, jumped out of her car and ran to Alonso’s truck.
“I was terrified of what I was going to see,” Haley wrote on Instagram. “I couldn’t see inside of the truck because the windshield was shattered. I screamed for him just hoping that he’d be able to answer me.”
Alonso answered Haley, saying he was OK. Then he told her he’d kick out the windshield to escape. Besides a scratch on his arm, Alonso had no other wounds.
“I thought I watched my husband die in front of me, and I will never forget that feeling,” Haley wrote. “This could’ve easily unfolded much differently and that’s what is so scary. Life can be taken from us in an instant. Please do not drive distracted and wear your seatbelt. This happened 5 minutes from our house, it can happen anytime, anywhere.”
Haley called the police immediately, and in the meantime she asked people who were near the crash to help. Alonso said Haley was “an absolute trooper yesterday,” and that everyone in his family is OK now.
“After it happened, I didn’t know if I was going to be hurt,” Alonso said. “When I was upside down — it kind of took me, I don’t know — it was a weird moment. Very scary moment. … To me, this is just really special to be here. This is a really special spring training.”
On Monday, Mets manager Buck Showalter pointed to the bags under his eyes and attributed them to being awake until 1-2 a.m. worrying about Alonso. Showalter said he found out about the crash before he left Clover Park on Sunday, around 7:30 p.m.
“He’s lucky,” Showalter said. “I just thought about a lot of things. His wife being right behind him. Can you imagine? I asked him today in the meeting how he felt about doing all those leg lifts in the offseason. Helped him push that windshield out.”
