For more than two years, David Wright had one goal in mind: to play for the Mets again. He thought his neck and shoulder problems were behind him after multiple operations and that another operation would alleviate some of the pain stemming from a chronic back condition. But as he moved through his protracted rehabilitation, he grudgingly realized that his body could not keep up with his desire to play.
“Those three combined, it’s debilitating to play baseball,” he said.
So in a tearful news conference Thursday afternoon, Wright — the Mets’ captain and longest-tenured player and one of baseball’s most admired figures — announced his plan to leave the game after one more start on Sept. 29 against the Miami Marlins, the penultimate game of the season. Wright last played in a major league game on May 27, 2016.
“Physically, the way I feel right now and everything the doctors have told me, there’s not going to be any improvement,” he said.
Wright will come off the disabled list on Sept. 25, the beginning of the final home stand of the season, and start at third base four days later. Given the state of his body, Wright, 35, was unsure how much he could play in that game or if he would be available as a pinch-hitter on the other days.
Sad in a way, because he’s a lifetime Met, seemingly such a great guy and when you think that if not for these series of injuries and set-backs over the years, he was on his way to a Hall of Fame career. But for as long as the possibility of ‘David Wright coming back’ lingered over the Mets and for his lifetime health and future, maybe it’s just best for the Captain to hang it up.