On Tuesday, New York Mets rookie first baseman Pete Alonso homered in the fourth inning to give his club a 1-0 lead over the Chicago Cubs. Alonso's home run was more significant than just putting the Mets in front, however, as it set a new single-season franchise record of 42. Just a few days prior, on Saturday, he had tied Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran for the now-old record of 41.

Here's a look at Alonso's dinger:

Alonso had already set the National League rookie record for home runs, which previously belonged to Cody Bellinger, and is now 10 away from tying Aaron Judge's mark for the most ever by a freshman player. With more than a month remaining in the regular season, it seems fair to expect Alonso to threaten Judge's mark. At minimum, Alonso should make a run at Mark McGwire's mark (49) for the second-most ever by a rookie hitter.

If nothing else, it's worth noting that Alonso is the first rookie since Johnny Rizzo in 1938 to break his club's single-season record. Rizzo homered 23 times that year for the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Alonso, for his part, was aware of the Mets record -- and wanted to break it. Here's what he told our Matt Snyder earlier in the year:

At the All-Star Game last month, I went to ask Alonso if he knew what the Mets' franchise home run record was. 

"Forty one!" he said emphatically before I even finished the question. "Not that I'm counting," he added sarcastically with a smile. 

I followed up, asking if that was a goal at this point. 

"Yes, I want it," he said.

Alonso entered Tuesday hitting .265/.368/.592 (152 OPS+) in 129 games. He's been worth more than four wins above replacement already, per Baseball-Reference's calculations.