One of the sweetest things about the Mets’ playoff run is that it’s happening while the Yankees are out on the golf course somewhere, after the Bronx Bombers’ own postseason stay lasted about as long as your average sneeze.
Being a Mets fan means constantly having to take a backseat to the most storied franchise in sports history. The Yankees have 27 World Series Championships, the Mets have 2. The Yanks have more than 40 Hall of Famers, the Mets have 9 — and nearly all of those came to the team as relics who had their best years elsewhere.
The Yanks had Derek Jeter, and the Mets have… their own Jeter. His name is David Wright.
Wright isn’t hitting much so far in the postseason. But the 32-year-old third baseman remains the heart and soul of the Amazins, as he has been for most of the past decade — one in which Wright was one of the few bright spots.
Jeter had the core four and owners willing to pay whatever it took to win. Wright had Jason Bay and owners who thought investing with Bernie Madoff was a wise choice.
With the trade of the unmentionable (aka Chase Utley) from the Phillies to the Dodgers earlier this year, Wright has now been with the same team longer than any other Major Leaguer. And while the Mets have basically hovered around .500 since his arrival in 2004, the seven-time All-Star has been a true winner from the get-go.
Forget about the numbers for a second, although, for the record, they’re Cooperstown-caliber through the first dozen years of Wright’s illustrious career. With Jeter, we always heard it was the intangibles that made him special. Is there a more respected player in baseball today than the Mets captain? Is there anyone who’s recognized as a better leader? In all his time in the media capital of the world, has a bad word been said about Wright?
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Injuries have certainly taken their toll on the third baseman, who’s missed more than 250 games over the past five seasons because of a myriad of maladies. But does anyone want to be in the lineup more? Does anyone play harder once he’s on the field?
After a diagnosis of spinal stenosis earlier this year, the future remains uncertain for Wright. Like another Yankee great, Don Mattingly, back woes appear to have sapped Wright of a good portion of his power. And while Donnie Baseball was still a solid performer despite his health issues, he prematurely left the game at 34 — just before Jeter arrived and the Yanks started winning big again.
Mets fans hope Wright has more than a few years left. After all, with the very notable exception of Tom Seaver, he may well be the greatest Met of all time.
But whatever happens down the road, the remarkable run the Mets are on isn’t only a joyride for the club’s long-suffering faithful, but also one the team’s captain so richly deserves.
