NEW YORK — Mets legend David Wright stood atop a gold-plated third base after being introduced to a sold-out Citi Field crowd on Saturday.
There, he turned to every corner of the stadium, waving at all of the fans assembled to watch him be enshrined in the Mets’ Hall of Fame, his number retired alongside the legends who came before him.
“DA-VID WRIGHT!” they chanted as the master of ceremonies, Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose, attempted to move forward.
“DA-VID WRIGHT!” they continued.
Wright embraced his former teammates before making his way to his wife and three children, manager Carlos Mendoza, and team owner Steve Cohen and his wife, Alex.
Moments earlier, he’d walked into the Mets’ press conference room, his family, former managers Willie Randolph and Terry Collins, teammates, and media members gathered to ask him questions.
There, he spoke for more than 35 minutes, providing more insight into himself. In no particular order, here are four revelations that stood out:
Behind No. 5
Before becoming a member of the Mets, Wright was most closely associated with the No. 4 — he wore No. 44 in Double-A because No. 4 was retired for Brian Cole, a Mets prospect who died in a car accident at 22.
When he was finally promoted to Triple-A, he saw the No. 5 hanging in his locker.
“Flying over Shea (Stadium) into LaGuardia, I went straight from the airport to the ballpark, and I couldn’t wait to see what number I was going to be, because that spring, I was No. 72 and would have been perfectly happy with 72,” Wright said. “But later on, I found out that Charlie Samuels, the old equipment manager, gave me No. 5 because of (Baseball Hall of Famers) Brooks Robinson and George Brett.”
The number followed him for the rest of his career and now hangs in the rafters, alongside all the Mets legends in left field.
A royal pain
Wright’s career ended prematurely, at 35, because of a chronic back issue called spinal stenosis. Because of this and a stress fracture in his lower back in 2011, he only managed to play 579 games over the last six seasons of his career.
While he continues to stay busy coaching his three kids’ softball and baseball teams, he still deals with the same issues that sidelined him from the game he loves.
“The hardest part is, I can do the exercises,” Wright said. “I can do everything I’m supposed to do, and for no rhyme or reason, you know, I’ll hurt the next day.”
Wright revealed that he had a “procedure” done on his back last year that “has solved some lingering things.” He’s still working on overcoming some of the mental hurdles that come along with unexpected setbacks.
A legendary mentor
Before the Mets hired Howard Johnson as a coach in 2007, Wright wasn’t much of a base stealer. In his first three seasons, between 2004-06, he stole 43 bases in 383 games.
“I didn’t really steal bases until I met HoJo,” Wright said.
In 2007, Wright stole a career-high 34 bases in 160 games, nearly matching his total from his previous two seasons combined (37). That season, Wright became a member of the elusive 30-30 club when he clubbed 30 home runs, joining Johnson and legend Darryl Strawberry as the only Mets players to do it at the time; shortstop Francisco Lindor (2023) has since joined the club.
“He saw, I think, the ability and the want that I had, and then he started helping me out with finding a way to get there,” Wright told reporters, with Johnson sitting before him.
Remains a presence
Though he hasn’t played in a game since 2018 and doesn’t intend to coach at the professional level, Wright remains a presence for the Mets.
Earlier this season, right-hander Max Kranick, a lifelong Mets fan whose favorite player was Wright growing up, revealed his coolest moment after breaking camp was receiving a text from Wright.
“I was sitting with Hayden Sanger on the bus, and I just showed him my phone, like, ‘Is this real?‘” Kranick told reporters in April.
It was.
On Saturday, Wright confessed that his interactions with Kranick went beyond this nice gesture.
Mets bullpen catcher Dave Racaniello asked his “buddy,” Wright, to help him tease the 27-year-old they dubbed ‘The Kranchise.’
“(Racaniello) asked me to reach out and give him a hard time for not following one of the rules or breaking one of the rules,” Wright said, drawing laughter from media members. “So I had to give him a hard time about that. …
“It’s like the clubhouse banter that you really miss, and part of that is staying kind of somewhat in the loop, whether it’s with (Brandon Nimmo) or Rac or, you know, (Carlos Mendoza).”
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Manny Gómez may be reached at mgomez@njadvancemedia.com.
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