Earlier this week, David Wright sat down for a 45-minute exclusive interview with Howie Rose to discuss many of the stories in his new book, “The Captain: A Memoir,” which is out now.
Already, we’ve chronicled David’s thoughts on his two biggest home runs of 2015, his final game in 2018, and, in cartoon form, the night he sang karaoke in Montreal. But, we thought we’d give you one more fun nugget about his uniform number – for Wright may not make the Hall of Fame, but one Mets equipment manager was hoping he might when he chose the single digit David wore his entire career.
Here is, in Wright’s own words, the story of how he became No. 5:
“I was number 72 in spring training that year, but obviously, I didn’t make the team. When I got called up, for whatever reason, the biggest thing in my mind was I wanted to walk in and just see my locker set up. You’ve seen the pictures of the locker with the snow whites hanging, or the pinstripes or whatever we were wearing, and everything just looked so neat. So I flew in that morning, so excited to get to the stadium and see my locker, and when I get there and walk through the doors and see No. 5 hanging in my locker, it was like this “I made it” moment where I just sat there and stared at it for probably five or 10 minutes. Guys probably thought there was something wrong with me. But I was sitting there staring at it in my locker, and I certainly wasn’t going to ask for any number. It was a surprise to me.”
Many players these days have stuck with their initial numbers – see also Aaron Judge wearing 99 – but Wright had no idea why he went from No. 72 to No. 5 until he was already entrenched with the latter.
"I had my fingers crossed for No. 4, because I wore it a lot as an amateur, but Matt Galante, our third base coach, wore it, so I wasn’t going to ask him for it. But, a few years later, I’m sitting down with Charlie (equipment manager Charlie Samuels) and we’re just talking, and I said, ‘why’d you pick number five for me? That’s quite an honor for a young player, single digit.’ He said, ‘I’ve got two reasons: George Brett and Brooks Robinson.’ It caught me off guard. He said, ‘That’s the type of player that I was hoping that we were getting,’ and I apologized for letting him down, but it was really cool to hear him give me that explanation and the No. 5 for that reason.”
Check out Wright’s full interview with Howie Rose below!
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