MLB

In the Hunt for history

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When David Wright takes his spot at third base Tuesday night — and if Matt Harvey joins him on the mound for the National League in the All-Star Game — there will be just one person in all of Citi Field who can relate to that very sensation.

Only one who knows what it’s like to represent the Mets at a Midsummer Classic hosted by the Mets.

“Playing at Shea Stadium, in front of the fans that appreciated my efforts on the field and took care of my family off the field, that was more of a pleasure there than anywhere else,” Ron Hunt said in a recent telephone interview.

Hunt, now 72, started at second base in the 1964 All-Star Game at Shea, the only other time the Mets have been the home team in this annual event. He went 1-for-3 with a single and strikeout before getting lifted for pinch hitter Hank Aaron in the ninth inning. In doing so, he became the first Met to be chosen as an All-Star Game starter, regardless of the locale, and that dual standing has helped him stay popular among Mets fans.

Hunt, voted in by his fellow players (as was the process at the time), is an unlikely candidate for such immortality. Those early Mets are best remembered for carrying over-the-hill legends like Richie Ashburn, Duke Snider and Warren Spahn. The Mets purchased Hunt, then 21, from the Milwaukee Braves in October 1962. Despite his obvious talent, he didn’t last very long in Flushing, getting traded (with Jim Hickman) to the Dodgers (for Tommy Davis and Derrell Griffith) in November 1966.

Nevertheless, here is why he is just as perfect as he is unlikely: Hunt may have deep Missouri roots, born in St. Louis and currently owning and running a farm in Wentzville, but by gosh, he is an honorary New Yorker by virtue of his personality that manifested itself in the way he played the game.

“Ronnie certainly was a player that got as much out of his ability as he possibly could,” longtime Met Ed Kranepool said. “He was a very aggressive offensive player and aggressive defensively, also. His uniform was always dirty. What he lacked in speed and ability in the field, he made up for it in hustle.”

Hunt’s 243 times hit by pitch rank as the fourth most among those who have played since 1901, and he retired as the all-time leader before being passed by Don Baylor, Craig Biggio and Jason Kendall.

“I found out that I could take it,” Hunt said. “It kept me from pulling my front shoulder. I didn’t have outstanding speed, but I was a leadoff hitter because of my on-base percentage and I didn’t strike out a lot.”

He is just as much of a New Yorker off the field. I got to know Hunt in 2009, when I received a tip he had asked the Mets’ owners whether he could get two seats from Shea, as it shut down, to add to his home collection. He also has seats from the Polo Grounds, Crosley Field in Cincinnati and the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Hunt voiced his complaints on the record.

“They wanted money,’’ Hunt said of the Mets’ leadership, “and I told them, ‘I played for $7,000 [a year] and had to play for four years to get a pension. If you can’t get me two seats, then stick them up your [butt].’’

A Bayville woman named Louise Martone Peluso read my story in Newsday and reached out to me. She had two extra seats from Shea (purchased for $869) and wanted to send them to Hunt. I connected the two, and Hunt now has his Shea seats in Wentzville. More telling, Hunt and his wife Jackie have become good friends with Peluso. They speak a few times a month and stay at each other’s homes.

“This is a guy who’s caring,” said Kerri Moody, a Manhattan resident who played on the youth team Hunt created and coached following his retirement. “He loves baseball. He loves people.”

The Hunts are attending the game Tuesday on Major League Baseball’s dime, though they will intelligently blow off the Home Run Derby on Monday so they can host some 25 friends at a dinner in midtown.

He might get an introduction during Tuesday’s festivities. He should. He isn’t worried about it, though.

“I’m sitting with people that love me,” he said, referring to Mets fans, “and I love them.”

Forty-nine years later, he still appreciates his role in this franchise’s roller-coaster history. And he is appreciated, too.

ken.davidoff@nypost.com