Today was a lot grayer, not because of the rain, but because of the news the Mets released yesterday.
Sending out an update on their injured players, they reported that David Wright terminated his minor league rehab assignment and will be examined by a doctor.
“After playing in a few games, I continued to have shoulder pain,” Wright said in a statement. “So, I decided to go to the doctor and get it checked out. Will make any decisions going forward after my appointment.”
It’s a shame and it shouldn’t end this way. Every team has its guy. The one that represents their team and no one else.
Cal Ripken in Baltimore, George Brett in Kansas City, Mike Schmidt in Philadelphia, just to name a few.
Across town the Yankees have a number of those guys from Gerhig, to Mantle to Munson to Jeter.
The Mets never had that guy. Seaver was traded to the Reds. Piazza was first a Dodger. Jose Reyes went to Miami.
But David Wright was supposed to be it. The one who had all the records. The one who becomes the all-time symbol of the franchise.
Wright was supposed to play his whole career in Queens and then go to the Hall of Fame.
Then the spinal stenosis happened. And the neck surgery. Now the shoulder impingement.
And Wright has been the team’s afterthought. Only on the club, because of insurance reasons and not in the plans for the future.
It’s a shame, since Wright once told me in, he was as “big of a Met fan than anyone in Shea Stadium.” And he was.
But he was more than that. He was the Mets ambassador.
I remember one day at old Shea, where he saw a could of young girls holding up a sign cheering him on in batting practice. These girls, who were probably in their late teens, gave him the biggest cheer when Wright went by.
Instead of ignoring them, instead, he told security to bring them down to the railing and he took pictures with them, probably giving them the biggest thrill of their young lives.
That was David Wright. Mets ambassador, who loved being in Queens.
And much like his counterpart in the Bronx, there was never a bad word written about him off the field. He knew how to conduct himself.
That’s why it was so easy for the Mets to re-sign Wright in 2012 and make him team captain.
That’s why you were thrilled for him in 2015 when the Mets went to the World Series.
No one deserved it more than him.
David Wright is the New York Mets, even more than Mr. Met or the Home Run Apple.
Maybe, Wright will get his chance to play this year. Maybe, the shoulder pain is only temporary and he will get to say goodbye to the fans, along with Jose Reyes on Sep. 27.
You hope there’s some baseball left in Ol’ No. 5, because in an awful year, seeing David Wright back out on the field will make this off-season seem just so much shorter.
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