David Wright remains the Prince of the City. At the age of 24, he is enjoying all the glitz and glamour New York has to offer. His Mets are in first place. He is getting settled in his new, $6.5 million condo in the Flatiron District, and he is making the most of his baseball and business opportunities.
On this day, he is making an appearance for Vitaminwater at the ESPN Zone in Times Square. For over an hour, he is the centerpiece of a game show devised by the company that is also running a Web site called http://www.DavidWrightorWrong.com.
Wright owns one charmed life. He used to drink Vitaminwater in the minors and loved it. When he got to New York, he got hooked up with the company and made a deal for stock options. Cha-ching!
Inquiring minds want to know everything about Wright’s life, including his first kiss, and no player in New York is more appreciative of his fans than Wright. To many fans of this generation, David Wright is their Mickey Mantle.
“It’s awesome to come up and shake hands with a fan that is so die-hard Orange and Blue, that not only they know what my batting average is and how many home runs I hit, and the difference in power production from April until now,” Wright says enthusiastically. “They know what my tastes are, my dog’s name, but not in an invasive way. In a die-hard Mets fans way.
“That is why it is so special to play in New York because you have fans like that. You don’t find that anywhere else where they want to know David Wright as a person not just as a third baseman for New York.”
Ladies, understand this about Young David, there is no Mrs. Wright in the foreseeable future.
“Definitely, right now baseball comes before anything else. That’s kind of the mindset I’m in right now,” Wright tells me. “I’ve put so much time and effort into where I am now; I just don’t want that kind of distraction away from the field.
“I date, I have relationships, but for me it’s important to let the people that you date know that, ‘Hey, these are my priorities: Baseball.’
“I’m just like any other normal 24-year-old,” Wright adds. “I’m not looking for anything super serious. I’m not looking to get into anything that takes me away from what I have to do to prepare for a season, prepare for a game.”
Does he ever lose relationships because of that?
“Oh yeah,” Wright says, “but I know what my goals are. I know what I want to accomplish and I know there is no time for that right now.
“You talk to the veteran guys and they say you have to enjoy your career because just like that, it is over. I want to be able to enjoy every second of playing baseball here in New York.”
One of those veterans is Derek Jeter. Dear Derek, I am a 24-year-old infielder in New York making millions …
“He’s given me some great advice,” Wright says of his Yankee rival – dating and worldly advice.
So, what has Jeter told him?
“Just know that everything that you do, somebody is going to be watching and act accordingly,” Wright says. “That’s why he is the professional that he is. He always knows that when he is making his decisions, there are choices and there are consequences and he understands the consequences and that’s why I admire him because you don’t see him so much in the spotlight, but also, he leads a normal life.
“I love his professionalism. He puts baseball before everything else.”
So, just what is Wright’s dating procedure? Does he walk into a bar and drop the line, “Hey, did you see the Mets game?”
“The thing about that is you have older teammates who want to line you up with a friend of a friend or women you meet doing events,” explains Wright, who does not kiss and tell on whom he is dating.
“I’ll get a recommendation from a teammate or an opponent. You know, ‘my wife’s friend’ or something like that.”
So when does he expect to meet Mrs. Wright?
“Hopefully, I’m playing for another 10 years, so maybe then.”
As for that first kiss?
“I was 13,” Wright says. “It was a sloppy kiss. Just like any normal 13-year-old kid. I think we were at a football game, hanging out. Her first name was Heather, a very nice girl.”
As for his new home, Wright says, “I love it. Everything you think about, everything you dream about, becoming a first time homeowner becomes real. To walk around the apartment and to know, ‘Wow, this is mine. That’s my couch, that’s my pool table, this is my home.’ It’s pretty exciting for me.
“The media room is my favorite room,” says Wright, who is getting sage advice from interior decorator Michelle Gerson. “I’m a huge football fan and I have separate TVs so I can watch all the games. I’m a huge NFL fan and college fan.”
His favorite college team is Virginia Tech. Michael Vick used to be the quarterback there. Vick pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy in a dog-fighting ring and to helping kill pit bulls.
“I own a dog. His name is Homer. He’s a boxer,” Wright says. “If these things are true, I expect the punishment to fit the crime.”
Yes, this third baseman is one pro athlete who really knows Wright from wrong.