Wright walks off to long ovation
NEW YORK — Much like the last few years of his truncated career, David Wright’s finale was no fairytale at the plate.
Adoration, appreciation, respect. Those were the tokens he took home.
Wright left to a long standing ovation before a sellout crowd at Citi Field in his farewell game for the New York Mets on Saturday night.
The team captain went 0 for 1 with a walk against the Miami Marlins and was removed after two plate appearances as planned. On defense, he handled a one-hopper to third base with no problem.
Wright, who fouled out to first base his final time up, took his position before the top of the fifth inning. Mets manager Mickey Callaway then came out of the dugout to make a line- 1 0 up change, and Wright began his slow walk off the field.
As fans chanted his name and cheered for about 3 minutes, 15 seconds, Wright saluted them by touching the bill of his cap and patting his chest repeatedly. He went down the line and hugged all his teammates just in front of the Mets’ dugout, with Marlins players standing and applauding from across the field.
With watery eyes, Wright took a bow, blew a kiss to the crowd of 43,928 and came out of the dugout for a curtain call before heading up the runway toward the Mets’ clubhouse, followed by several teammates.
Once he was out of sight, fans chanted “Thank you, David!”
After heading up to the television and radio booths for interviews, Wright was back on the bench as Mets pulled out 1-0, 13-inning victory on Austin Jackson’s double that drove in Michael Conforto.
His stellar career cut short by neck, back and shoulder injuries that required surgery, the 35-yearold Wright completed an arduous comeback by returning to the majors this week for the first time since May 27, 2016. Unable to fully overcome his physical setbacks, he said he expects Saturday to be his last major league appearance even though his contract runs through 2020.
Wright was reinstated from the disabled list Tuesday and finally made it back into a big league game Friday night as a pinchhitter. He grounded out on the only pitch he saw in his first plate appearance in nearly 21⁄ years, then batted third in a ceremonial start Saturday that was in the works for weeks.