No reason to lie:
When you get assigned to vote on a Baseball Writers’ Association of America award in which a New York player factors prominently, you, as a New York-based voter, think harder about it. You don’t want to get accused of cronyism, as has clearly occurred too many times to count in the BBWAA’s history. Nor do you want to lean too hard the other way so that you’re penalizing the New York guy for being local.
Pete Alonso turned this inner debate moot.
By the time the 2019 regular season concluded, the Mets’ freshman first baseman had established himself as such a leader of the pack that this National League Rookie of the Year ballot proved stress-free, as evidenced by his winning the honor while receiving 29 of 30 first-place votes (Braves pitcher Mike Soroka received the other).