David Wright met the media on Wednesday via a zoom call after the Mets made the official announcement that his #5 was going to be retired on July 19th before the game against the Cincinnati Reds.
On that day, Wright will also be inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame, making him only the second player beside Tom Seaver to have those two honors bestowed upon him on the same day.
Wright’s number will be the team’s tenth to be retired and the sixth under the ownership of Steve and Alex Cohen, who have done a great job of recognizing and honoring the history of the New York Mets.
Wright will occupy a space above Citifield along with Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Mike Piazza, Jerry Koosman, and Willie Mays. Managers Gil Hodges and Casey Stengel have also had their numbers retired by the Mets.
“I don’t think its hit me, I truly feel like it’s a bit undeserved given the skill and accomplishments of some of the numbers that I’ll be amongst up there,” Wright said.
A number of times throughout the zoom call, Wright used the word, “undeserved.”
That one word coming out of his mouth is not accurate because he is deserving of this great honor, but it tells you all you need to know about a man who is humble, grateful, appreciative, and as classy an individual as you could meet.
Wright will be the only one of the ten numbers retired, who spent his entire 14-year career in a Mets uniform. It’s something that gives him an immense feeling of pride.
“It’s a different feeling when you’re drafted, developed and playing for the team that gave you your first opportunity,” Wright said.
Wright started 1,571 of his 1,585 games at third base. There were two instances where he started the game at third and played shortstop for a few innings. 10 times he appeared as a pinch hitter and one time as a pinch runner in 2004 his 7th Major League game.
During spring training in 2013, Wright was named the fourth team captain in Mets history.
“I’ve never been the most loud or yelling and screaming type guy so I wasn’t going to change that just because I was named captain,” Wright said. “I wanted to do the things that got me to that point.”
Wright’s career took a turn for the worse in April, 2015.
While stealing second base in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies in late April, 2015, Wright injured his hamstring and was placed on the 15-day DL (it was called the disabled list at that time). He was later diagnosed with spinal stenosis and did not return to the lineup until late August.
On August 24, 2015, Wright returned to the lineup against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Leading off the top of the second, Wright hit an emotional home run as the Mets went on to a 16-7 thrashing. He was able to play the rest of the regular season but it was clear that his skills had begun to diminish because of his physical limitations.
After playing 37 games in 2016, Wright underwent surgery in June to repair a herniated disc in his neck and missed the remainder of the season.
Wright attempted to rehab in 2017 but a right shoulder impingement in February affected his ability to throw. He could hit but the National League did not yet have a DH so he remained out of action. In September, he underwent rotator cuff surgery on his right shoulder and missed the entire season.
The setbacks continued in 2018 as he was shut down from baseball activities but he wanted to take the field at least one more time before calling it a career.
“It wasn’t the way I wanted to go out, but it was the only thing that I think that was available to satisfy that hunger, quench that thirst to be able to say goodbye,” Wright said.
In August, Wright played 12 games in the minor leagues for the Mets Class A team at Port St. Lucie and the Triple-A affiliate at Las Vegas.
“I remember my rehab assignments, I was just hoping that the game would go as fast as possible and they wouldn’t hit me any balls at third base because I didn’t want to bend over funny or dive funny or have to make a weird, off angle throw because something might hurt,” Wright said.
In September, the Mets announced that Wright would be activated from the disabled list for the final homestand of the season.
“I genuinely wanted to say thank you to everybody for having my back and for taking a 21 year old kid from Virginia and kind of making him a honorary New Yorker because that’s tough to do,” Wright said. “A lot of times New Yorkers don’t accept an outsider, but they accepted me with open arms. I’ll obviously be grateful for that the rest of my life.”
On September 28, Wright made his first appearance in a big league game when he grounded out as a pinch-hitter. The next day, the then 35-year old played his final game.
With over 43,000 fans on hand for a very emotional night, Wright started at third base and was 0 for 1 with a walk. Wright took the field for the top of the fifth inning, but he was removed before the first pitch and he saluted the fans who gave him a lengthy and raucous ovation as he left the field for the final time.
While reflecting on his career, Wright cited some memorable moments. He noted the time when he had an at bat against Hall of Famer Randy Johnson and a walk off hit off of Yankees Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera in 2006.
Wright had the distinction of having the first Met hit and the first Met home run at Citifield, something I asked him about on the zoom call.
“The homer was a big spot, I think it was the fifth inning, 3-2, was a slider. It was a three run homer to tie the game,” Wright said. “I remember vividly running around first and I mean almost taking the hand off of our first base coach and taking the hand off our third base [coach], I was so pumped at the moment to hit the homer. Just a really, really neat feeling to be able to do that.”
On a personal note, I began a relationship with Wright when he approached me with some questions about official scoring. It was always a pleasure to interact with him during his career and we’ve remained friends ever since.
Another one of his memorable moments was also an emotional one for me. It was game three of the 2015 World Series against the Kansas City Royals when Wright hit a World Series home run. I was one of the official scorers that night and I was pleased to be able to give him a copy of the scorecard.
A real Mr. Met will be honored in July. Well deserved my friend.