Pete Alonso is the latest Met to join the NFT trend.
Alonso will launch his nonfungible token on Tuesday through Blockparty with proceeds going to two charities: his own, Homers for Heroes, and More Than Baseball -- a charity that helps minor leaguers who need financial support with housing, equipment, and more to get through the grinds of the minor league season.
"I was a minor leaguer. I know how hard it is on 12-hour bus trips," Alonso told ESPN. "If you're not on the 40-man roster or you're just a regular minor leaguer without any big league team, you're making around $2.85 an hour when it comes down to brass tacks. To be able to raise funds and help out guys that need it, that are extremely talented because there's big league talent all throughout the minor leagues, I'm very thankful."
Because the minor league season was cancelled last year due to the ongoing pandemic, thousands of baseball players were out of jobs. That urged Alonso to team up with More Than Baseball.
"There's guys on my team were like, they're going on eBay to buy their cleats," said Alonso. "They're grinding, trying to figure out how they're going to get their next shipment of bats. Because if you're not a prospect or drafted very high, it takes like six to eight weeks to get your wood in. And then you could be, you can either not have bags, not have proper equipment."