MLB

Wright, Dickey rejoin forces in the Classic

BIG WRIGHT FAN: Tyler Boyle, a beneficiary of a trip to Citi Field to meet David Wright (inset), said the Mets third baseman is “a very nice man.” (CHKD.org; AP (inset))

A David Wright-R.A. Dickey reunion did not take long.

Wright, the face of the Mets’ franchise, and Dickey, the Mets’ Cy Young Award winner before being traded to the Blue Jays, Thursday were named to Team USA for the World Baseball Classic. Neither selection was surprising.

“When you think about the best American pitchers you can put on a squad, R.A. has got to be on that list,” said Wright, who tonight switches from his baseball talents to his poker skills — or alleged skills — (“Poker I’m not very good at because I get impatient and I start doing stupid things,” he admitted) in the third annual Vegas Night in Virginia Beach, a joint venture by Wright’s foundation and the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters of Norfolk, Va.

While Dickey was traded from Queens, Wright said he had no doubts his future would be bound to Citi Field, something virtually assured by his eight-year, $138 million contract extension.

“I knew a trade was always a possibility and I had no control over that, but it never got to the point where I was worried about it,” Wright explained in a phone interview with The Post. “[That’s] Because I told [general manager] Sandy [Alderson], I told [owner] Jeff Wilpon, I wanted to be here. This is the place I wanted to be and in return they told me they wanted me here. A trade could have happened but it never got in my mind that it would.”

The big trade was exporting Dickey for a package including stud prospects, catcher Travis d’Arnaud and right-handed pitcher Noah Syndergaard.

“Trading a Cy Young Award winner, that’s difficult,” Wright said. “You understand what he’s capable of doing. … But from what I gather, the pieces we got back are pretty incredible. You’re talking about building a team capable of winning year in and year out for a number of years. The pieces we’ve added give us the opportunity to do that.”

But before Wright heads for spring training, he will try tonight to raise funds for CHKD, the only free-standing pediatric hospital in Virginia. If you encounter him, he implores you to make one selfless — OK, foolish — act.

Draw to an inside straight.

“Don’t be knocking me out of my own tournament too early,” Wright said.

“He provides us some support, financial, prizes, gifts. But he also provides his time,” said James Dahling, president and CEO of CHKD. “I’ve been very touched with his relationship where he gets down on the floor to be able to talk directly to a young child to get the child’s thoughts and concerns. You don’t often see people of stature and recognition willing to do that.”

Wright’s relationship with the hospital began nearly 10 years ago when he and some friends collected holiday toys for the kids. The relationship blossomed.

“When I get to hang out with these kids, you hear the age-old cliché that it puts things in perspective but it’s the honest truth,” Wright said. “You see the smiles on these kids faces [despite] the pain they’re going through to receive these treatments. These kids a lot of times are braver than I’ll ever be.“The outlook they have on their own lives gives a much better perspective that an 0-for-4 or a couple strikeouts is not the end of the world.”

So Friday night money for the CHKD, in March, the world. Wright made a huge impact in the 2009 WBC, delivering a two-run, ninth inning hit that beat a Puerto Rico team loaded with Mets teammates. The single advanced Team USA to the next round.

Wright has two overriding WBC memories: walking into the clubhouse and seeing a uniform with “USA” across the front and “Wright” across the back and befriending U.S. Army Sgt. Felix Perez, a wheelchair-bound Iraqi war veteran who proudly displayed an American flag and his love of the Mets. The two have remained friends.

Wright also has kept in touch with a bevy of kids from CHKD. How many homers has he been asked to hit?

“Quite a few and I don’t think I’m very good at it,” he said.

But even when he’s not at the hospital, he is present in a way.

One program he helped develop is the “Do the Wright Thing” lending library where from their bedside, kids dial up movies or video games with personalized recorded instructions from Wright.

As part of Vegas Night, one prize auctioned off is a trip to Citi Field. One past winner was Tyler Boyle, now 10, a child suffering from a rare but controllable pituitary gland disorder for which he is treated at CHKD. Boyle was a Wright fan before meeting his hero.

“He’s a very nice man. He treated me very good,” said Tyler, who received loads of autographed memorabilia from Wright. “He talked about what I wanted to be when I grow up [a lawyer] and my baseball career.”

Tyler’s dad, Dan Boyle, who transferred from California to Virginia, stressed the good fortune of landing near a hospital with endocrinology specialists for his son — and that Tyler met Wright.

“I was blown away at how much David was able to talk to Tyler,” Dan Boyle said. “This is an amazing guy who really cares. It’s not just lip service. He has a real interest in doing something for these kids.”