The New York Mets inducted David Wright into the team Hall of Fame and retired his No. 5 during a pregame ceremony on Saturday at Citi Field. Wright, a seven-time All-Star, spent his entire MLB career with the Mets and was the team captain before his playing days were cut short due to injuries, including spinal stenosis.
And the emotional jersey retirement day featured the SNY crew sharing memories about Wright’s career throughout the broadcast.
As the ceremony wrapped up, SNY Mets analysts Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling shared great stories about Wright.
“I have one memory that sticks out in my mind,” Hernandez told Darling and play-by-play man Gary Cohen. “We were in Chicago. I was working the game at Wrigley Field. Took the last bus to the ballpark. There was around maybe eight players that were on that last bus. You walk into Wrigley Field, you walk through where the guard is, and you have to go up the stairs to the clubhouse. So, as we’re ready to make that left-hand turn, all the players, here comes David, in full uniform, sweating, and he looked at the nine players and said, ‘You snooze, you lose.'”
Darling showed admiration for Wright’s willingness to be upfront with the broadcast crew.
“What I love about him, he’s one of the few players that when I would have interaction with him, he would needle our booth,” Darling said. “He would always talk about some of the things that, you know, when we go crazy up here, we say all kinds of things; he wasn’t afraid to like, ‘I can’t believe you guys were talking about that last night.’ He would needle you. And that made you feel like you’re in his realm. And that was a good feeling.”
Steve Gelbs shared a personal story about the impact Wright had on his early days as an SNY reporter.
“I think, those of us who know David, you have a personal story that really illustrates the type of guy that he is. And for me, that comes all the way back to my first full season in 2015,” Gelbs said. “I was young. I was trying to feel my way. I was a little timid, which you can’t be in that clubhouse. And I had set something up, a shoot with a player, that involved us bringing in a camera crew early before the game one day.
“So, I come in the day of the shoot, I go over to that player that I had set it up with, and he just kind of leans back in his chair and says, ‘I don’t feel like doing it today. Maybe tomorrow.’ So, I tuck my tail between my legs, I leave, and I come back the next day. We bring that camera crew back in. Same exact thing happens. I get blown off. And then the third day, when it happens, it was the first time that I pushed back a little bit. And this player says to me in the clubhouse, ‘I’m starting to get to you a little bit.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t know why you’re treating me this way. We have to bring people in.’ That was that. So, I thought that was going to be the end of it.”
Gelbs then explained how the player went on to apologize in the postgame and offered to do the interview the following day, thanks to guidance from Wright.
“After the game that night… I get into the clubhouse, and that same player was waiting for me,” Gelbs continued. “And in all sincerity came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I apologize for how I treated you. That wasn’t right. If you bring the camera crew in tomorrow, I promise I will do it.’ I was stunned. I didn’t know what the 180 was about.
“It wasn’t until about a week or two later that I found out David had witnessed on the third day the way that player had treated me, and he pulled him aside in the back and said, ‘Hey, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. But you cannot treat people that way. You will treat everybody with respect. They have a job to do. And if you agree to do something, you do it.’ And that’s what happened.”
Hernandez responded to Gelbs’ story: “I bet you he told him too, it’s part of your job, part of being a professional. You have to deal with the media and be available for the media. I know there’s a lot of media in New York, but it’s part of the job. And David was a consummate professional in that regard.”
Wright also joined the SNY booth during the game and shared some memories of his own.
Hernandez asked Wright, “When was that moment when you said, ‘I’m a major leaguer’?”
Wright: “When I walked off Mariano Rivera. I walked off Mariano Rivera, and it may seem like one at-bat, or one small battle in the grand scheme of things. But to me, it was more than that. It gave me a shot of confidence that, even if it’s just for one at-bat, I beat the best in that one at-bat. So, no matter who’s on the hill the next day or who’s closing the game the next day, I know that since I’ve already beaten the best once that I can do it again. And that gave me so much personal confidence moving forward.”
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.