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David Wright

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David Wright
New York Mets – No. 5
Third Baseman
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
debut
July 21, 2004, for the New York Mets
Career statistics
(through September 8, 2007)
Average.308
HR94
SB73
H599
RBI351
Runs333
OBP.385
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Wright during 2007 spring training.

David Allen Wright (born December 20, 1982 in Norfolk, Virginia) is an All-Star Third Baseman in Major League Baseball who plays for the New York Mets.

David Right Is Bhe Best!!!!- Brady

Wright was brought up by his parents Elisa and Rhon in the suburbs of Chesapeake, Virginia. His father was a police officer. David and his brothers lived in a strict household with a lot of rules and responsibility[citation needed]. Wright attended Hickory High School in Chesapeake, Virginia. In high school, he was a three-time All-State selection and, as a senior, was named the Virginia All-State Player of the Year. He finished his high school career with a .438 batting average, 13 home runs, and 50 RBI. Although Wright had signed a letter of intent before his senior year to play baseball at Georgia Tech after high school, he opted to enter the draft when it became apparent he could be selected in the first round.

Professional career

Wright was chosen by the Mets in the 2001 amateur draft as the 38th overall pick. His selection was in a special supplemental round after the first round as compensation for the Mets' loss of Mike Hampton to the Colorado Rockies in free agency. Wright was the Mets' second selection in the draft, following current teammate Aaron Heilman who had been selected in the first round.

Wright progressed steadily in his first three years of minor league play, winning the Sterling award for best player on the class A St. Lucie Mets in 2003. In 2004, he quickly rose from the class AA, Binghamton Mets, to AAA, Norfolk Tides, to the major leagues. On July 21, 2004, he made his major league debut starting at third base against the Montreal Expos. Since then, Wright has been the Mets regular starting third baseman.

Wright, along with shortstop Jose Reyes, combine to make one of the best young duos on the left side of the infield in the Majors. David Wright is ranked second among third basemen in ESPN fantasy baseball, behind the cross-town New York Yankees counterpart Alex Rodriguez.

During his first major league season, he had a .293 batting average, 14 home runs and 40 RBI in 263 at bats in 69 games.

In 2005, the 22-year-old Wright played in 160 games and batted .306 with 27 home runs, 99 runs, 102 RBI, 42 doubles, and 17 stolen bases, leading the team in average, runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, RBI, doubles, and finishing second in home runs to Cliff Floyd (34). Wright was also in the top ten in the National League for average, hits, total bases, RBI, extra base hits, and runs. Wright's diving, bare-handed catch in the August 9 loss to San Diego was voted the "This Year in Baseball Play of the Year."[1] At the same time, his 24 errors tied him with Troy Glaus for the most errors by a third baseman in the major leagues.

Wright is noted for his unaffected politeness and work ethic. He has developed a reputation for arriving very early to the park for games and being uncommonly accommodating with fans and reporters.[2]

In 2006, Wright was named National League Co-Player of the Week for June 12-18 along with teammate Jose Reyes.[3] It was Wright's second Player of the Week award. He was also named National League Player of the Month for June, becoming the first Met since Howard Johnson in 1991 to capture the award.[4] For the month, Wright batted .327 with 10 home runs and 29 RBI.

Wright also provided his share of heroics throughout the 2006 season. His first game-winning hit occurred on May 5 with a 2-out double just out of the reach of a chasing Andruw Jones in the bottom of the 14th inning off Jorge Sosa to defeat the Atlanta Braves, 8-7. Two weeks later on May 19, he hit a walk-off single off vaunted closer Mariano Rivera that just sailed over the head of center fielder Johnny Damon as the Mets rallied to beat the Yankees in the first game of the 2006 Subway Series, 7-6. He capped off the month on Memorial Day, May 29, with a single to the wall in left-center field off Arizona Diamondbacks closer Jose Valverde scoring Jose Reyes all the way from first base as the Mets defeated Arizona, 8-7. Wright also made a game-saving stop at 3rd base of a would-be game-tying single by Mike Lieberthal for the final out of a 4-3 Mets victory over Philadelphia on August 5.

Wright was voted on to his first MLB All-Star Game as the starting third baseman for the NL. During the 2006 season, Wright collected 74 RBI before the All-Star Break, breaking the Mets record previously held by Mike Piazza, who had 72 RBI in 2000. Wright also participated in the 2006 Home Run Derby, reaching the final round but finishing second to Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies. He hit 22 home runs in the contest, including 16 in the first round, the third highest total in any one round in the history of the Home Run Derby.[5] The following night, he hit a home run in his first All-Star Game at-bat off American League starting pitcher Kenny Rogers. Wright's homer was nearly the difference in the game as the National League led 2-1 for most of the night before closer Trevor Hoffman blew the save in the top of the ninth inning. The NL lost, 3-2.

Wright ranked among the club's top three hitters in all offensive categories for the 2006 Mets, who were the top run-scoring team in the National League. Fans at Shea Stadium have routinely greeted Wright's performances with chants of "M-V-P, M-V-P." According to teammate Tom Glavine, "He's probably been our most clutch hitter over the first half of the season and he's certainly thrown his hat into the MVP talks."[6]

On August 6, 2006, Wright signed a 6-year contract extension with the Mets worth $55 million, as well as a $1.5 million signing bonus. The contract will pay him $1 million in 2007, $5 million in 2008, $7.5 million in 2009, $10 million in 2010, $14 million in 2011, and $15 million in 2012. The contract also contains a club option for 2013 which is worth $16 million. Wright has already announced that he will donate $1.5 million to the Mets Foundation throughout the course of this contract. [7]

The Mets captured the NL East title in 2006 and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2000. Wright struggled in his first postseason, going 4-25 (.160) in the Mets' NLCS loss to the St. Louis Cardinals and batted a mere .216 in 10 postseason games.

Wright participated in the 2006 Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series along with fellow teammates José Reyes, Julio Franco, and John Maine.

As of April 19, 2007, Wright has a hit streak of 26 regular season games; the previous team record was 24, held by Mike Piazza and Hubie Brooks. He had a hit in the 12 final regular season games of the 2006 season, and has a hit in all of the first 14 games played to date this season.[8]

Wright's hit streak of 26 regular season games ended on April 21, 2007 against the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium. Wright went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and walked once. Since then Wright fell into a slump. However, he soon jumped back following his first home run of the season. Soon after he posted 7 more home runs in May including two against the Yankees in the second game of the Subway Series.

The Bare-Handed Catch

David Wright caught a ball bare-handed and over the shoulder during the seventh inning of a game at PETCO Park against the San Diego Padres on August 9, 2005. With one out in the inning, Brian Giles hit a blooper 20 feet beyond the edge of the outfield grass. Wright, retreating quickly with his back to home plate, extended his bare right hand and caught the ball cleanly while crashing to the ground. Wright would maintain control of the ball after landing hard on the outfield grass. The sellout crowd at PETCO Park acknowledged the splendor of the catch with several minutes of applause.

The prolonged reverences for this catch were stunted by the fact that the Mets would lose the game 8-3.

Personal

His brother Stephen Wright attended Virginia Tech in 2007, and attended classes in Norris Hall, the scene of most of the shootings in the Virginia Tech Massacre. He could not get hold of his brother that day and did not find out he was all right until his brother, Matthew, a freshman at James Madison University, called and told him. As of March 2007, he had just bought an apartment in New York City's Flatiron District. Previously, while with the Mets, he had been staying in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.[9] His nickname in the clubhouse is Visine. Also, he is known as "Hollywood" in the clubhouse. [10]

David Wright Foundation

In 2005, Wright began his own charitable organization, the David Wright Foundation. Its mission is to increase awareness about multiple sclerosis and to raise money for multiple sclerosis organizations and projects. The Foundation hosted its first annual gala at the New York Stock Exchange Members' Club on December 16, 2005, donating the proceeds to two multiple sclerosis centers.[11]

Marketing and Endorsements

Wright is sponsored by Vitamin Water.[12][13] In May of 2007, Vitamin Water was sold to the Coca-Cola Corporation for 4.1 billion dollars (U.S.). As part of his endorsement deal, Wright was given 0.5% of the company, and thus netted approximately twenty million dollars from the deal. [14]

Media appearances

On April 29th, 2007, Denis Leary jokingly started a rumor that David was Jewish on The Daily Show during a conversation with Jon Stewart about Jewish MLB players.

In 2006, David appeared on MTV's Total Request Live with former teammate Cliff Floyd. He also made an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman on July 12, 2006. That same day he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated along with Mets teammates Carlos Beltran, Paul Lo Duca, Carlos Delgado, and Jose Reyes.

Trivia

  • Wright used "Party Up" by DMX as one of his walk up songs in 2006.
  • Wright appears on the cover of, and is featured prominently in, the U.S. April 2007 issue of Men's Health magazine.
  • On April 10, 2007, a wax figure of him was unveiled at the Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York.
  • He is attributed to being the instigator of the 2007 New York Mets' "haircut fest" while on a roadtrip in San Francisco. David had his bullpen catcher shave his head on a Monday (May 7) night. That Tuesday, more of the team followed suit, for different reasons. Some said they were making David feel less bad about his newfound looks. Others thought it was for team unity. A few holdouts, such as Tom Glavine, Aaron Heilman, Jose Reyes, and Aaron Sele remained, but they eventually gave in. By Friday, May 11, all of the team, even General Manager Omar Minaya, had been buzzed.
  • On May 19, 2007, David hit a 460 foot, 2-run home run off New York Yankees reliever Mike Myers. The home run went over the Shea Stadium bleachers and landed in the Citi Field construction site and has been jokingly referred to as the first home run in the history of Citi Field.
  • Made $322,500 in 2005 and $374,000 in 2006
  • Makes $1,250,000 in 2007.
  • Wright's sport idols are Cal Ripken, Jr. and Michael Jordan.
  • Michael Jordan was responsible for inspiring Wright to stick his tongue out during game plays.
  • Attended the 2006 and 2007 all-star games.

References

  1. ^ 2005 This Year in Baseball Awards
  2. ^ Lidz, Franz (2006-05-29). "Prince Of the City". Sports Illustrated (in print as well as online for subscribers only). Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Infielders share Player of Week honors
  4. ^ David Wright of Mets and Chris Young of Padres voted National League Player and Pitcher of the Month for June
  5. ^ "King of swing". Associated Press. 2006-07-10. Retrieved 2006-07-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ Lennon, David (2006-07-10). "An All-Star Met makes own break". Newsday. Retrieved 2006-07-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Mets sign Wright to six-year, $55M extension". Associated Press. 2006-08-06. Retrieved 2006-08-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Yahoo! Sports: Wright sets Mets record with 25-game hitting streak. Retrieved on 2007-04-18.
  9. ^ Hoch, Bryan (2005-06-24). "Notes: Wright soaks up Yankee Stadium". MLB.com. Retrieved 2006-07-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Verducci, Tom (2006-07-11). "Joy Ride". Sports Illustrated (in print as well as online for subscribers only). Retrieved 2006-07-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ The David Wright Foundation
  12. ^ David Wright Foundation Website Do The Wright Thing Gala
  13. ^ Lennon, David (2006-07-13). "Late Night with David Wright". Newsday.com. Retrieved 2006-07-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Hale, Mark and Kouwe, Zachery."Wow, water play. Drink deal has Mets Wright $ittin (sic) pretty.". New York Post, 2007-05-26. Retrieved on 2007-07-09.
  15. ^ "Delta names airplane for David Wright". Associated Press. 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2006-10-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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Preceded by National League Player of the Month
June, 2006 		Succeeded by
Preceded by New York Mets Starting Third Baseman
July, 2004 - present 		Succeeded by
incumbent
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