David Wright began his discussion about the New York Mets retiring his jersey number by taking a moment to acknowledge the wildfires in Los Angeles. For Wright, whose wife is from Southern California, the situation hits close to home. He expressed his empathy for the victims of the wildfires, those who have lost homes.
This was typical Wright, the Mets’ all-time leader in so many statistics and someone who also set a standard when it came to representing the club off the field.
Wright eventually spent an hour Wednesday revisiting the anecdotes and accolades that made his 14-year career, all with the Mets, worthy of special recognition. New York will retire Wright’s No. 5 in a pre-game ceremony before the 4:10 p.m. game against the Cincinnati Reds on July 19.
“I don’t think it’s hit me,” Wright told reporters on a video call. “I don’t think it’s ever going to 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.”
A bit undeserved? Perhaps only Wright would even suggest such a thought. Wright is the franchise leader in hits (1,777), RBIs (970), runs (949), doubles (390), extra-base hits (658), walks (762) and Baseball Reference’s WAR (49.2). He is second in games played (1,585) and home runs (242). He is third in batting average (.296). He is fourth in stolen bases (196) and on-base percentage (.376). He won two Gold Glove Awards at third base. He made seven All-Star teams. In 2013, he was named the fourth captain in franchise history.
Wright’s No. 5 will join 10 others: Tom Seaver (41), Mike Piazza (31), Jerry Koosman (36), Keith Hernandez (17), Willie Mays (24), Dwight Gooden (16), Darryl Strawberry (18), manager Gil Hodges (14), manager Casey Stengel (37) and Jackie Robinson (42).
“I joke that I think there should be a special section maybe for my number, because it’s probably not deserving of being amongst the really, really good players in the organization,’’ Wright said. “So I’m incredibly grateful for the honor. I don’t take it lightly. I’m humbled. For the organization, the fan base, the city, ownership, Steve and Alex Cohen, to view me in this light, it’s something that obviously means a ton to me.”
Wright’s session with reporters Wednesday went beyond the numbers, leading to five thoughts on his legacy.
David Wright tips his cap to the crowd after a game late in 2018, the final season of his career. (Brad Penner / USA Today)
Wright will join Seaver as the only players to have their number retired and enter the Mets Hall of Fame on the same day. In 2013, Seaver threw the ceremonial first pitch of the All-Star Game at Citi Field, with Wright catching it. So it’s fitting. But the bond between the two franchise greats goes even further.
According to Mets vice president for alumni relations and former longtime press relations guru Jay Horwitz, Seaver loved Wright’s appreciation for history. As Wright tells the story of their relationship, Seaver would do most of the talking, with Wright being the willing listener. Anytime Seaver was around the club, whether it was after a media scrum in the clubhouse or during the team’s stretch, he’d pull Wright aside and talk about things like balancing life on and off the field.
Every year, Seaver would invite Wright to his vineyard in Northern California. Seaver would tell Wright to bring boots because he was going to put Wright to work. But as a reward, Seaver would offer wine and dinner. The two Mets icons never experienced that get-together before Seaver’s death in 2020.
Wright calls it one of his biggest regrets.
“I never took him up on that offer,” Wright said. “And to this day, I wish I would have taken him up on that offer.”
The connection between Wright and Mets fans always felt genuine, especially for those who grew up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Wright, who was called up in 2004, was a top Mets prospect who actually panned out. Right away, he was good. Better than that, he felt like one of their own.
Wright grew up right outside Norfolk, Virginia, which for years served as the home of the Mets’ Triple-A team. Wright’s father worked as a police officer and a lot of his buddies handled security for the Triple-A team when they were off duty. So Wright would get autographs or foul balls or pictures with the Norfolk players. One of his biggest thrills as a kid, he said, was turning on the television to see the player he had just met appear on the screen a week or so later as a member of the Mets.
The Mets, Wright’s favorite team, then drafted him during the first round in 2001. He developed on spring training fields under the eyes of former Mets notables like Tim Teufel and Howard Johnson. Those were some of Wright’s father’s favorite players.
When the Mets announced their plans this week to retire Wright’s jersey, another member of Mets lore from the 1980s reached out to Wright: Keith Hernandez, another former Mets captain. Containing heartfelt paragraphs, Hernandez’s text message was one of the first Wright received about the honor. When he got it, he immediately called Horwitz to confirm its legitimacy.
“It meant a lot to me for a guy of his stature, what he’s done for this organization and in the game, to reach out and share those kinds of words,” Wright said.
No one has served as captain for the Mets since Wright.
“The captaincy is the biggest honor that I’ll ever receive on a baseball field,” Wright said. “You can’t proclaim yourself captain. It’s got to be bestowed on you.”
Wright still remembers the day ownership and the front office presented him with the idea of being captain during spring training.
“I immediately thought that, you know, this isn’t the way that this should work,” Wright said. “This should be somebody that the players trust. And I don’t care if it’s a guy that has 20 years experience or a guy that’s a rookie, they should go talk to these guys and make sure that this is the way that they view me. Because that was the most important thing. I didn’t want to be this self-proclaimed leader, captain of this team. I wanted to be viewed in that light by other people. And hopefully, that was the case.”
In performing his role as captain, Wright said he tried to keep the “rah-rah stuff” to a minimum. It wasn’t his nature to be loud or call a bunch of team meetings. Instead, he wanted players to feel that when they did have meetings, they were important. He also took a personal approach toward getting to know teammates.
“I tried to find each guy every day and go pat him on the back and just have a couple-minute conversation,” Wright said, “just to know what makes them tick, or how I can lead them better.”
What is Wright most proud of, regarding his on-field accomplishments?
It was an approach that he said his father and mother, who drove a school bus before becoming a teacher’s assistant at an elementary school, instilled in him.
“I felt like that blue collar-bring-your-lunch-pail-to-work mentality stuck with me my entire career,” Wright said. “I knew that I wasn’t the most talented, most gifted player on the field, but I always felt like I was the most prepared.
“I think every player, including myself, has regrets. What if this were to happen? What if that didn’t happen? I can honestly look at you and say that I felt like I got the most out of my 6-foot, 200-pound — very little athleticism — body. I reached my ceiling.
“And that’s something that I don’t think a lot of players can say. I put my head on my pillow at night and can say, I left it all out there. I gave it everything I had. I worked as hard as I could. And there’s not really anything I could have done differently on that side.”
For others, it’s easy to look at Wright’s career and wonder: What if? What if he wasn’t diagnosed with spinal stenosis in 2015? What if he continued to be an everyday player in his 30s? After all, from Wright’s age-21 season in 2004 to his age-31 season in 2014, he was on a Hall of Fame trajectory.
“It’d been different if I felt like there was something left in the tank that I had to offer, and I think I was completely out of fuel,” Wright said. “Physically, I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
Wright appeared on video from his home office. The space lacked much decor. But the memorabilia in that room was particularly special to him.
Hanging next to his Team USA jersey was his World Series jersey from 2015. Elsewhere, his National League Championship Series ring is mounted. There was also a picture of him and his teammates celebrating in Wrigley Field after winning the pennant that year.
By that season, Wright already figured the end was near for his career. He played in just 38 regular-season games.
“That shows just how important that year was, not necessarily for me personally — you know, I got a chance to come back and experience a lot of the good times on the way up into the playoffs — but as an organization and as a city and as a fan base, how much fun that was to be a part of that year.
“At that point, the writing was on the wall for me. So I think that maybe I was a little more emotional, or a little more, you know, taking time to relish it and appreciate it. But I remember sitting at my locker and just staring at that patch and smiling and being like, ‘How cool is this?’
“It really, really meant a lot to me, and kind of capped off for me, a great run, a career in which I accomplished more than I could have ever dreamed of accomplishing. To be able to cap that off with a World Series appearance was really, really special.”
(Top photo of David Wright: Adam Hunger / Getty Images)
