Introduction (For the Grown Ups)
To get warmed up for our player stories this year, we’re trying something new - shorter stories focused on great plays in Mets history. Amazin’ Plays, if you will. We’ll try these throughout spring training, before getting back to player stories when the season starts. I hope you enjoy!
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Questions in italics are designed to spark a conversation. Encourage your audience to participate, but also feel free to answer the questions yourself and incorporate answers into the story.
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Happy story telling!
The Story
(5 minute read)
Have you ever heard someone say "I was in over my head?"
What do you think they mean?
“In over your head” is an idiom, or a short phrase with a special meaning. People think this idiom comes from 400 years ago when many English speaking people didn't know how to swim. If you can’t swim, getting in water deep enough to go over your head can be very scary! Today, people say “in over my head” when they are doing something that is really difficult or challenging. Thankfully, many more people have learned how to swim, but there are still all types of situations that can make it feel like you need to come up for air.
Have you ever had an uncomfortable experience in water?
David Wright would become one of the greatest players in Mets history, but in his first full season in 2005, there were times where he felt like he was in over his head. He showed up for his first road trip wearing flip flops and shorts, before realizing that everyone else on the team got all dressed up to travel. When the games were in New York, he rode to the ballpark with a teammate, scribbling down directions in a notebook the whole time because he was worried about getting lost. And every time he made a mistake, or didn’t play well, he worried that he was going to get sent back to the minors. And on top of it all was his defense!
David’s defensive position was third base, a position that some people call “the hot corner” because it is one of the closest positions on the infield to the batter.
If you’re playing closer to the batter than anyone else on the field, what does that mean about the balls that get hit at you?
The balls hit to third are hit hard and hit fast. They come screaming off the bat, right at the third baseman. A third baseman’s jersey is almost always dirty from diving all over the infield, trying to stop groundballs from becoming hits. To make things worse, even if you manage to grab one of those drives, third base is the furthest places on the infield from first base, so you still have to throw it all the way across the diamond to try and beat the runner to the bag. David would drill moving to the left and right, diving and popping up to throw, over and over again. His jersey was always dirty.
Despite all of his hard work, at the end of the day on August 8th, 2005, he had the most errors, or defensive mistakes, of any player in the National League*. Sometimes playing defense felt like he was just barely keeping his head above the water.
Then, suddenly, in the 7th inning of a game against the San Diego Padres, he found himself totally, completely, quite literally, in over his head. A Padres hitter hit a ball to third base. Unlike most balls hit to third, this hit wasn’t a screamer. It wasn’t a hard ground ball, or a bullet line drive. It was what is called a “bloop hit".”
Can you say “bloop” with me?
“Bloop!”
When you say “bloop hit", what type of hit do you think that describes? (Maybe you can show me with your hands!)
A bloop is a hit that is just like it sounds, almost a loop, almost an oops, just high enough to avoid a defender, but hardly hard enough to look like a real hit. This bloop was too shallow for the left fielder to come in to, and it was too deep for David to get back to. It wasn’t hit hard, and it wasn’t hit far, but it was flying right over David’s head, and it looked like there was nothing he could do.
Or at least that’s what everyone else thought.
When you’re “in over your head,” you can’t give up or you’ll never break the surface. So David didn’t give up. And you can’t keep doing what you’ve been doing because that’s how you ended up in over your head in the first place. Sometimes, you need to try something a little crazy. So David tried something a little crazy. When a ball is coming toward you, you normally don’t want to take your eyes off of it. But David turned his back to the batter and turned away from the ball the ball and started to run as fast as he could to where he thought the ball was going to land.
After a couple steps, he looked back up to the sky, hoping to catch sight of the ball as it fell. And sure enough, there it was, falling almost exactly where he thought it was going to land. But that almost was a big problem. Because the ball was falling to his right, which was almost where his glove was on his left. But since the ball was almost there, he didn’t have any time to get his glove where it needed to be. “Here goes nothing,” he thought, and stuck out his bare hand exactly where that ball was about to be, and picked it out of the air like an apple off a tree as he and the ball tumbled to the ground.
The announcers couldn’t believe it. His teammates couldn’t believe it. When I watch the replay, I can hardly believe. David held the ball high in the air so that the umpire and everyone else could see that he really had caught it with his bare hand.
David got high fives and a pat on the back from his teammates, and even the San Diego crowed cheered their approval. David just smiled and shook his head. Sometimes, when you don’t know what to do, you have to try something a little crazy, and get a little lucky. In the end, if you don’t give up, you might end up surprising yourself. Good night, sport.
Quick Note
Talking to someone and asking for help is also and important thing to do when you are in over your head! When David made the play, there obviously wasn’t anyone to help out, but with getting to the ballpark and learning what to wear, he had lots of older teammates who helped him figure it out. There are lots of people in your life you can talk to when you are feeling in over your head as well.
Additional Story Ideas
Tell a story about a time that you did something kind of crazy because you had no idea what to do...and it worked (or didn’t!)
Share a story about water or swimming where you realized how important it is to be safe in the water.
Tell a story about a time that you felt overwhelmed, and what you did to manage your feelings and the situation.
Sources
Much of the background for this story (and David’s own reflection on the play) came from Anthony DiComo’s great book on David Wright, The Captain.
*The night before the catch (8/8/2005) David was tied with Troy Glaus for the National Lead league with 18. They both trailed Édgar Rentería and Russ Adams from the American League. David would end the season tied with Troy for the most errors in the National League at 24, and tied for 4th in the Majors. He would never have the ignominious distinction of errors leader again, and went on to win two Gold Gloves.
Art and Illustrations
Huge shoutout to Dan Bolenbaugh who I approached about this project and drew David’s tumbling catch to go along with this story. Check out his Instagram account crap_art_daily where you can find, well, it’s pretty self-explanatory. There are a variety of Mets gems in there that we are hoping to share an highlight in future stories.
His Basketball art is 🔥🔥🔥, (Bing Bong) but I know he’s a Mets fan, so here is hoping we see some more Mets from Peter Richter @FloppyAction this year. David at the hot corner captures everything about the Captain getting ready to play.
And finally, because it’s the Mets, and because it’s Athlete Logos, of course the incomparable Dan Abrams at created a Neon of the catch. For more of Dan’s work, check out his site here, or shop for Mets themed T's and mugs at the Queens Collection.