David Wright’s Ailments: Unfortunately, We’ve Seen It Before

Some nasty news came down on Saturday, revealing the full extent of David Wright’s latest back trouble. Stenosis of the spine, they’re calling it. You usually hear this description applied to octogenarians – something akin to rheumatism or lumbago. For a 32-year-old elite athlete, it sounds like immediate retirement. In fact, New York Giants running back David Wilson, all of 23, succumbed to this very ailment last year, cutting off a very promising NFL career. Scary stuff.

For David Wright, though –captain of the Mets, Captain America – it’s especially bitter. He has been the Mets’ shining leader, the exemplar in the clubhouse, Noah Syndergaard’s lunch police. He has produced on the field and off. He has generated some marvelous regular-season numbers. He has become a permanent fixture at the All-Star game – even this year, he’s the fourth leading vote getter at third base, despite not setting foot on a major league field since Tax Day. He had appeared primed for a big year. Earlier this season, while Wright was still able to play, a mini-debate arose about whether the Mets’ front office made the correct call to keep Wright over Jose Reyes when the team’s meager funds were to be allocated four years ago. In a cruel ironic twist, most fans agreed with the decision to keep Wright, citing Reyes’ propensity for injury. That’s not the “bitter” part.

What’s sad is that Wright was felled by this ailment just as the team appears to be catching up with him. If you’re looking for a comparison, for another golden athlete done in by back issues, look no further than uptown: Don Mattingly. The parallels are kind of eerie. 20 years ago, Mattingly had given the Yankees his all. He was their Captain, their presence. Most younger fans won’t remember this, but there was a time when the Yankees were all but guaranteed to not be in the playoffs. From Mattingly’s rookie year – 1982 – through 1994, the Yankees made the post season exactly zero times. Don Mattingly was a great player on some historically bad teams, sometimes the only good player – Dave Winfield notwithstanding. He won numerous Gold Gloves and one famous MVP, in 1985. He soldiered on, carrying the Yankee banner and brand in the days before any deals with Adidas or Japanese affiliations, really before many people actually cared. He had very little help. It wasn’t for a lack of trying on owner George Steinbrenner’s part: he would open his wallet annually for the biggest free-agent name and gladly surrender top prospects for a familiar sounding semi-star. He had a lack of understanding as to how it all worked, yes, but not a lack of effort or passion. In any case, while under suspension after a very public feud with Winfield, Steinbrenner’s lieutenants resisted the methods of the past, resulting in a series of non-moves and allowing the Yankees to hang onto the likes of Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams and Mariano Rivera. You’ve heard of them, right? All three were mere pups when the Bombers finally made it back to the playoffs in 1995. Where was Don Mattingly through all this? Nursing a sore back. In his only playoff appearance Mattingly played all five games of that first ALDS, batting .417, with four doubles and a homer. The Yankees lost a thrilling series to Ken Griffey, Jr.’s Seattle Mariners. He would not see another season as a player. The Yankees would miss exactly one October until 2013.

It is likely that David Wright will have made his only post-season appearance in 2006 when he was only 23. It looks as though this year would be his best chance since 2008, and he can’t get on the field. It’s almost guaranteed the he will never make a World Series appearance – just as Mattingly didn’t. Wrap your mind around that for a second: George Theodore, Timo Perez, Kevin Elster, Luis Sojo, Aaron Boone and Mariano Duncan all got World Series at-bats, while Mattingly and Wright never have.

They both deserve better.

Follow me on Twitter @CharlieHangley.