Mets give Howie Rose standing ovation on plane after amazing Pete Alonso home run call

Howie Rose had been waiting for this moment . So, too, had New York.

The long-time Mets’ play-by-play announcer was on the call for Pete Alonso’s go-ahead home run in Thursday night’s deciding Game 3 .

Later that night, on their flight home to New York, the team played it back for him .

“Williams sets, here’s the pitch,” Rose begins with the Mets down, 2-0, in the top of ninth. “Swing and a fly ball to right field, pretty well hit…”

His pace quickens: “(Sal) Frelick back at the wall. He jumps. It’s gone! He did it! He did it! Pete Alonso with the most memorable home run of his career!”

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Rose, at first, seemed uncomfortable hearing his own call, even putting his hands over his ears.

But he smiled after hearing the players clapping and celebrating the call, before saluting them.

Rose then trotted down the aisle and slapped hands as the team gave him a standing ovation.

The announcer eventually embraced the man of the hour, shaking Alonso’s hand and issuing a personal congratulation.

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Rose has been calling Mets games for various television and radio stations since the mid-90’s, but only a handful of moments, only a handful of his calls, stack up with this one.

And that’s especially highly praise considering Rose provided perhaps the most memorable Rangers call ever from the 1994 Conference finals when Stephane Matteau scoring the game-winning overtime goal in Game 7 against the Devils: “Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!”

It could have been the Polar Bear’s final at-bat in a Mets uniform and the final at-bat of the Mets 2024 MLB season.

It instead turned into a moment that will go down in New York baseball history— the most improbable comeback of the Mets season, a campaign and postseason that has been filled with unexpected comebacks.

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“They all pour out of the dugout. Alonso on his way to home plate. They’re waiting for him. He hits the plate,” Rose said Thursday night after the Mets grabbed a 3-2 lead. “He is first congratulated by (Brandon) Nimmo. Hugged by (Francisco) Lindor . There are a dozen Mets waiting for him outside the dugout. Pete Alonso keeps this fairytale season going with the fairytale swing of his career.”

Alonso’s homer — the first runs the Mets had scored in their last 15 innings against the Brewers erased a 2-0 deficit, gave New York the lead, and sets the stage for an NLDS showdown against the Phillies.

Praise flew in from social media too.

“This might be the most perfect radio call I’ve ever heard, via the great Howie Rose,” ESPN baseball columnist Jeff Passan posted on X .

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