SHIRLEY, Maine — "High fly ball into center field. This one is back at the wall, and it's gone! A new rookie, single-season home run king."
With this call during Saturday night's New York Mets game at Citi Field, rookie Pete Alonso made baseball history.
"Pete Alonso moves past Aaron Judge and stands alone with 53 home runs in his rookie season!"
Alonso wrapped up his season over the weekend by breaking the record for most home runs in a rookie season.
The 24-year-old from Tampa, Florida, hit 53 home runs, breaking the previous record of 52 held by Aaron Judge.
Alonso bats exclusively with Maine-made Dove Tail Bats.
"It's a big thing that a player is trusting his career on a product that we're producing for them," said Dove Tail Bats owner Paul Lancisi, who started the company in 2007.
He said Alonso used Dove Tail Bats in the minor leagues in 2018 and has "stuck with us ever since."
Alonso won the home run crown in Triple-A baseball in 2018.
In the last year, Alonso hit 53 home runs, breaking the all-time rookie home run record, and became a home run derby winner and home run leader.
"It's not every day that you've got one guy that wins the home run derby, that wins rookie of the year, that is leading Major League Baseball in home runs, and has the most home runs ever as a rookie in total baseball history," listed Lancisi.
All of Alonso's accolades were being engraved on commemorative bats Monday at the business in Shirley.
The bats being engraved with the commemorative design are the same bats Alonso uses every time he steps up to the plate.
"There were other companies that offered him a lot of money to swing their product and the number one thing he said is we have the best bats in the game," added Lancisi. "The hardest wood in the game."
All of the wood used to make Dove Tail Bats is from Maine trees that have aged between 80 and 200 years.
The company is supplying bats to five, full-time major league baseball starters this year, including Alonso, who has been using between three and five different Dove Tail models.
"We went to New York City three weeks ago to a game and 80% of the people wearing New York Mets shirts were wearing Pete Alonso shirts and that's pretty cool," said Lancisi. "For being such a young guy at 24-years-old, he's made a major impact because not only of the player that he is, but the quality person he is. Pete's a great guy and we couldn't ask for a better ambassador for the brand."
As their players do well, Dove Tail Bats does well, too.
"We're there when a player's slumping," added Lancisi. "We're there when they're doing really well."
The company is on track to make 40,000 bats this year, nearly double from last year.
"They're going to be in the hands of players from all over the world," said Lancisi.
The Dove Tail bat Alonso used to hit that 53rd home run during Saturday's game will make its way into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Lancisi said it will be the third Dove Tail bat on display there.
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