Mets great David Wright 'humbled' he's still on Hall of Fame ballot
David Wright said on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024, “To be able to stay on (the ballot), it means the world to me. Humbling is the first word to come to mind.” Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — David Wright isn’t a Hall of Famer, but he at least will receive further consideration — and that in itself is an honor, he said.
After clearing the 5% threshold to stay on the ballot — he received 6.2% of the vote — Wright will be eligible for Cooperstown again next winter. He can stay on for as many as nine more years, his candidacy lining up for a longer look after surviving what is often a first-year pruning.
“It’s something I don’t take lightly,” the Mets' former captain said Tuesday. “To be able to stay on, it means the world to me. Humbling is the first word to come to mind.”
He added later: “It was an incredible honor to make that 5%. But I also think that things are changing. I’m not sure if it’s in a way that people like or dislike, but writers and fans and people in the game are starting to understand that some of the best players — and this is excluding me — but some of the real greats in the game didn’t necessarily hit the milestones that the greats of the past or different decades hit. It’s an interesting debate. A debate that I didn’t know much about until a couple of months ago. But it’s a good one to have.”
Wright dropped into Mets camp for his annual visit revolving around sponsorship/marketing duties. He chatted with the new bosses, president of baseball operations David Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza, but reiterated his usual sentiment that at least for the time being, he isn’t interested in a formal gig back in baseball.
The topic did come up in the fall, though, when Stearns called to introduce himself upon joining the Mets.
“He kind of asked what I had interest in doing,” Wright said. “I said, well, if you’re asking about my 5-year-old’s softball team or my 7-year-old girl's soccer team, I can talk about that. But I’m not sure how much help I’m going to be on the baseball ops side. And I think he’s got it under control."
‘29 other teams’
Tomas Nido, in camp as a non-roster invitee — a minor-leaguer — after being removed from the 40-man roster last season, said he views this spring training as “an opportunity to showcase myself.”
He is approximately third on the depth chart behind Francisco Alvarez and Omar Narvaez, ticketed for Triple-A Syracuse barring a change.
“You never know what can happen. These things tend to work themselves out toward the end of camp,” he said. “At the end of the day, I can just go out there and show what I can do and I want to win. Whether it’s here or there are 29 other teams that are watching. At the end of the day, I just care about winning. Hopefully I can do it here, but if not, I get it. So things will work itself out.”
Extra bases
Carlos Beltran, entering his second year as a special assistant in the front office, is due to arrive in camp within the next couple of days . . . DJ Stewart will practice at first base during camp. An outfielder by trade, Stewart played 16 games at first in the minors last year.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
