New York Mets: David Wright is so much more than just a great baseball player

The New York Mets and David Wright announced on Thursday that his playing career is all but officially over at the end of the season. But, Wright should be remembered as being the standard for what it means to be a New York Met.

David Wright has been the poster boy for the New York Mets since the first time he put on the blue and orange. Now, it is officially time to talk about his legacy.

There are almost no words that can be said to describe how David Wright’s career as a player will end. Almost everything that could be said has already been said. He has been nothing but justifiably praised his whole career.

This is also not an article that wants to be written. It is one that needs to be. We all wish the captain was getting ready to play Game 2 of the Mets’ doubleheader rather than taking in every last scene he could.

Despite it not being the subject we want to be talking about for the Mets this year, it has become the only subject.

No one wants to be talking about Game 161 of an underwhelming 2018 season being David Wright’s last game, but we must.

David Wright is that standard for what every New York Met after him should be. It is quite simple. Not easy to say this soon, but how he should be remembered.

Aside from having a career that saw him make the playoffs three times, which almost no Met has ever been around long enough to do, he carried himself in a way that most athletes have to try really hard to do.

We know how good David Wright was at baseball. He had a great glove, great swing, could hit for power, hit well in situations and was clutch as all heck.

So, he should be remembered for that. Obviously, he will be.

However, he is not only the face of an entire generation of Mets fans, his on the and off the field character is what every Mets players should be.

There might never be another David Wright. His loyalty to this franchise when he could have easily gone elsewhere is rare enough. However, if future players strive to emulate their Mets career after Wright’s, the Mets will be in for some amazing seasons.

From being called up as a highly touted prospect, to representing the Mets while hitting baseballs into the Allegheny River during the home run derby in 2006.

Also, to make talking to the New York media be like another full-time job and to working harder than most humans are capable of to come back to have a sendoff everyone deserves.

David Wright, has oh so appropriately, done it right.

It is hard enough to be a great baseball player. But it is 10x harder to be a great person. And on the day he announced he could no longer physically play baseball, David Wright the person was praised just as much as the baseball player.

Maybe it is because David Wright made baseball part of his life and not just the best thing about it, but in a city where athletes are seen as larger than life, David Wright never wavered in his ability to carry his city.

No matter what, at the end of the day, perhaps the best thing David Wright ever did on the diamond was probably hit a home run in the World Series. It does not get much bigger than that.

But, his number 5 will be the last Mets number to be retired for a long time. It will be a while to get another one like him.

Now, every Met after him has a standard to meet. The standard that Wright has set.

Being a great baseball player is one thing. Being a great New York Met is even slightly different.

But, to incorporate loyalty to the franchise, loyalty to the fans, all while being immensely talented hits every nail and hits some nails that have never been touched before for what it means to be the leader of this team.

David Wright will be remembered in the record books for breaking almost every team record possible. He will be remembered for being on some of the best Mets teams ever. He will always be one of their captains.

But now, we can officially say he is the standard for being a star on this team. Some players might have brought titles. Some might have dazzled on the diamond more.

But, no one wore iconic Mets blue and orange better than David Wright. Every step of the way, he showed how to do it right. He represented the team right and for a long time.

So, thanks for everything, Captain.

When you return to start at the position you held down for so long on September 29, you will have created a moment in baseball that is so rare but so important, a moment where what you do does not matter but simply that you did it.

That is the opposite of your career, ironically, because it is not just what you did, but how you did it that you will be remembered.

See you at Citi Field soon, and forever.