Mets: A letter to David Wright

A letter to one of the best Mets of all time

Hello Captain,

I hope you are well despite the fact that many of us Mets fans are not. When we got the news Monday evening that you were terminating your latest rehab assignment in Port St. Lucie, all of our hearts broke a little bit.

We thought maybe this time around would be the one. The one where you were pain free and healthy and would return to the diamond at Citi Field much to the delight of the Mets faithful. But, as everyone learns in life, most things never go according to plan. Especially with the baseball team from Flushing.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. When you came up to the team in 2004, everyone fell in love with you right away. Your passion for the game of baseball, the smile on your face every day when you took the field and how much you loved being a New York Met captivated the fans.

Oh, it also didn’t hurt that you happened to be one of the best young players in the game and made up one half of one of the most exciting left sides of the infield in baseball. At the time, the successes you and your team enjoyed in 2006 only seemed to be the beginning. We thought maybe the Mets could become a perennial power and that one day you would become “The face of New York” following the retirement of Derek Jeter. Heck, maybe you were even going to be a Hall of Famer. The possibilities were endless.

Then the collapses of 2007 and 2008 happened, then the injury plagued season of 2009 happened and then the Madoff scandal happened. And just like that everything looked bleak. In the blink of an eye, the Mets went from one of the most promising teams in baseball to a roster with horrible contracts, no money and not very good players.

That’s when everything started to go downhill for you. First, it was the stress fracture in your back, then the hamstring injury, a shoulder injury and once again back to the hamstring. That’s when we found out about your back. I learned of the news that you had a condition that caused narrowing of the spine while the Mets got pummeled in Pittsburgh and everything looked bleak. But a back injury that may have sounded career ending did not deter you.

Instead, you went on a mission to make it back to this ball club and help contribute in a meaningful way down the stretch. While you didn’t look like the David Wright of old, you were still David Wright and wow was it awesome to watch.

The home run in your first at bat back from the DL, the emphatic fist pump in D.C, the first-ever Mets World Series homerun at Citi Field.

While that season didn’t have the end result we had all hoped for, it was still a magical ride for everyone. To see the joy on your face was something that made all of us happy.

You were staying true to something you had said three years prior when you signed your contract extension to be a Met for life. It’s a quote that has stuck with me these last couple of years whenever you face adversity. It goes as follows: “I’m here today to promise you that I’m going to give everything I have out there to bring a championship back to Queens.”

And while you may not have gotten that elusive championship that you have coveted, Mr. Wright, I’m here today to tell you that you have given everything and more to try and bring that championship back to Queens.

If this is the end and you never play another game in the orange and blue, thank you. Thank you for making my six-year-old self fall in love with you and the game of baseball. Thank you for sticking with us in the darkest of days. Thank you for being a leader of the team and the Captain.

Next: The Mets need to let the kids play

Thank you for everything, David. The Mets faithful will always be appreciative of everything you have done for this organization.