This is awesome. @Pete_Alonso20 and Luis Rojas made a surprise call to Kathleen, a life-long Mets fan who was recently diagnosed with cancer.
— Yahoo Sports MLB (@MLByahoosports) March 18, 2020
(Via @Mets)pic.twitter.com/OBOzHpYsyE
The lady lives in Rockaway Beach but has moved to stay with her granddaughter and her daughter, Elizabeth, in Sarasota Springs, Florida, during the coronavirus pandemic. Now, wearing a blue New York Mets sweatshirt, Mrs. Selig watched and listened to Alonso through unapologetic tears of joy, a tissue in hand.
“I just wanted to say that, for me, I wish baseball was going on right now,” Alonso began. “It’s tough without it going on.”
“I know,” Mrs. Selig wept.
“I hope this coronavirus thing passes very, very soon,” Alonso continued. “Life’s not the same without Mets baseball and we can get back to playing and everything is all good in the world when Mets baseball is back. I appreciate your lifelong support and as always, let’s go Mets.”
He flashed a large grin as he signed off. Mrs. Selig wept gratefully as she turned to face the camera recording her reaction. She spoke again through her tears, making it difficult to record precisely what she said in that moment. Then came another call.
“Oh, my God,” she said, clutching her telephone, as Rojas spoke on the other end.
“It’s my pleasure,” said Rojas, who calls her greatest among a lifetime of Met thrills the night she sat in a raucous Shea Stadium when relief ace Jesse Orosco struck out Boston Red Sox second baseman Marty Barrett to nail down Game Seven of the 1986 World Series.
“You have no idea what this is doing to me,” Mrs. Selig wept.
“We’re grateful for all the support,” Rojas replied. “We have so much support from our fan base, then we got the message and the tweet. We’re praying.”
“You have no idea,” Mrs. Selig replied. “I love you. You have no idea, I love you guys. Thank you so much.” She moved the receiver to one side, unable to speak through crying for sheer joy.
“We’re touched to be in touch with fans like you and people like you,” said another Mets person whom I was unable to determine through the video view but could well have been Sam Katzap, the likely go-between between Ally and Alonso. “We think your granddaughter did a great job with the post, and it really touched all of us.”
“Thank you so much, I love you guys so much,” Mrs. Selig answered.