Get Your Love Of David Before The Bandwagon Does!

Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that David Wright is a budding star...dare I say, a budding superstar. It's extremely hard not to be giddy over the fact that the Mets have a home grown position player to build their team around, especially at a position which has been scarce of true superstars in their history...a superstar who is popular with fans of all ages.

I just wish he wasn't so popular.

My whole obsession against Derek Jeter, for example, stems from the fact that he became this pop-culture crossover star so soon into his career (like year one), at the expense of the rest of his teammates. What made the Yankees champions during the latter half of the nineties was that it was a true team effort. But the way that the New York media saw it, and as an extension the national media as well, it was always Jeter leading the charge..."Jeter and the Yankees", "Derek Jeter's Yankees", and so on and so on. Now regardless of my hate for Derek Jeter the icon, Derek Jeter the player is one hell of a player. But the fact of the matter is, "Captain Derek Jeter" has never led the Yankees to a championship. "Captain Derek Jeter" never reached won a Series without the likes of Paul O'Neill, Scott Brosius, David Cone and the like who have been widely credited with being the leaders of that team. Hence Derek Jeter, as good a player as he has been, is almost a creation of the media...lifted to mythical status in part because he's a matinee idol. And for sure, revisionist historians will credit Jeter with much much more than he has actually been responsible for. "The Manchurian Shortstop", if you will.

Which brings me to Wright. He has been referred to as "our Derek Jeter". He's ranked nineteen slots ahead of Jeter in Nate Silver's ranking of the most valuable properties in baseball. Adam Rubin said on "Mets Weekly" that, if you can believe it, more people are going to love Wright than Jeter because David is more accessible and never has a bad word to say about anybody, in addition to not having an ego (which makes me curious about what Adam Rubin knows about Jeter that nobody else does.)

Whoa, dude!

Now I'm not going to sit here and type to you that David Wright is not deserving of all that love. But when a list, no matter how based it is on youth and WARP and PECOTA and whatever other 90's baseball player you want to create an acronym out of, puts you in front of everybody except Albert Pujols, you're set up for a major fall...especially since Wright hasn't played in October yet. And not for nothing, I don't particularly want David Wright to be "our Derek Jeter". Why should every success the Mets have be automatically linked to the Bronx? Can't David Wright be our David Wright? And not for nothing, I'm not interested in sharing David Wright with the oncoming bandwagon.

Here's what worries me: remember that poll where Yankee fans outnumbered Mets fans solely on the strength of the female persuasion? Now I'm not going to say that a woman's place is in the kitchen, but...hey Keith, get off my computer! All right, seriously...I'm not going to generalize by saying that women...no matter who they root for...are automatically bandwagon fans. Far from it. But I use the poll merely as an example. Some of these women who took this poll, those particular women that checked the Yankee box because of the way Jeter and A-Rod fill out their uniforms...yet still ask when halftime is after going to Yankee stadium for ten years, are going to look to come to the other side when the Yankees decline begins and the Mets start playing in October. Make no mistake: the "David Wright is hot" contingent is starting to make it's way to Shea. That's fine, because if David Wright's goods lure you to Shea, and the experience of watching a Mets game at Shea hooks you into being a Met fan forever...a real honest to goodness Met fan, great. But God help you if you have ever worn or owned a Derek Jeter tee shirt and you try to gain admission to Shea Stadium for a Mets/Marlins game in August. Because someone will find out about you...and they will kill you. And I can't promise that it wouldn't be eventually classified as justifiable homicide.

(Note, if you're looking for goods, and goods only, there's a former Met who has recently retired to show all the goods. Yikes!)

If Kelly Calabrese happens to be reading this, trust me when I say that this is not a gender issue. Because they'll be plenty of guys that want to ride the Mets bandwagon as well come October, if the Mets are good enough to play in that month. And now we're talking about low life forms. Many of these guys would probably be able to name David Wright if a gun was to their head. But can you name anyone else? Can you tell me who played third base before David Wright? Because that's my question to those Yankee bandwagon jumpers who only know of Yankee baseball post-Jeter. Who played shortstop before Derek Jeter? Well at Shea Stadium in September and October, ticket takers should poll every fan over the age of thirteen as to who David Wright replaced at third base. Can't produce an answer? Get your pinstriped suit toting, new cap wearing ass to the refund line and get out!

In fact, screw you...no refund! You probably got your tickets from a corporate account and are writing them off as a business expense. So drink your mojitos and discuss your soy bean futures elsewhere.

It's an impossible dream, but I just want David Wright to be a star...our star. The ones that knew about David Wright when he played in the minors. The ones that went to see him in September of 2004 long after Art Howe's goose was cooked. Your star. My star. A star that will be recognized as one of many contributors on a World Series Champion. Our star. Not a star for the late arriving bandwagon...not for you. Not the ones who spend 3 innings looking for their seat, 5 innings on their blackberry, then leave and read about the final score in the Times the next morning. You cannot lay claim to David Wright. He's not yours.

I just don't want some disgruntled fan like me to start complaining that David Wright is overrated.