David Wright's New Book Deserves Its Own Thread

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'm reading this David Wright book and can report it's exactly as I expected it 20 pages in.

[Edgy MD]

Just the fact that it's called The Captain puts me off my smoothie. Being the Mets captain may be a seemingly marketable part of his brand, but it's a pretty meaningless summation of his story, since his tenure as captain was almost completely defined by extended absences.



That tells me it's more about brand projection than telling a story. I didn't get very far in Gary Carter's The Gamer, and I want to like Wright more than Carter, so I'm so far staying away from this one. I'll gather it up sometime, of course.



I did get lucky this weekend, however, and I picked up a first edition copy of Tug McGraw and Joseph Durso's Screwball.



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Then I realized on the way home that a truely complete Mets library would include the bound collections of Tug's Scroogie strips, and I got sad again.



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[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Speaking of Carter, I reread DREAM SEASON recently, and that's a pretty good book. I can remember having a lot of yuk's here over that unfortunate passage where he describes the physical closeness of the club then reminds the reader that he'll have to kill them if they interpret that to mean he has a "gay streak." But overall, his cowriter did a real good job, it's very readable, moves along, and the format works, recapping each postseason game with context and stories from his career.



I'm on page 49 of the Wright book and so far, he really loves playing baseball.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, Dream Season works. The Gamer, with a different co-writer, totally doesn't.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

"Friendly's had this dessert called called the Cyclone, filled with soft-serve ice cream, peanut butter cups, and peanut butter sauce. I may not have done much drinking or partying as a minor leaguer, but I never said I was perfect."



This book is very controversial

[A Boy Named Seo]

it's third in my queue, but now that I'm aware of this salacious Page 6 worthy gossip, I'm gonna drop it to 4th.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

At the risk of being a spoiler, David Wright likes playing baseball

[MFS62]

Why does it deserve its own thread?

That is usually deserved for a book that is either very good or very bad.

Which is it?

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think the initial post in this thread gives a hint in that regard.

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think the initial post in this thread gives a hint in that regard.

It could be dull good or dull bad. Just wondering which.

Later

[whippoorwill]

As I recall a lot of girls thought he was hot.



They'll read it

[Edgy MD]

He was no Matt Reynolds. That guy turned HEADS.

[kcmets]

CHAPTER 10 - My Eyebrows and Me

[Benjamin Grimm]

I would have gone right to the index (if there is one) to see if there's anything about Jaerock Lee.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I don't wanna spoil the ending but "...not much actually changed after the Mets named me captain. I didn't act differently."

[ashie62]

Wright has nothing on Recker in the looks department.



A title of "The Captain" almost assures that there is zero salacious info within. Easy pass.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

So I finished this last night. David has kind words for everyone including Fred & Jeff whom he considers "family" and it occurred to me now that they're gone too his and their legacies will sorta meld together in some ways.



I was kinda angry at Wright while I read this book, but it's not really his fault. He is what he is, guarded, a bright-sider, as optimistic, nice and hardworking as he appeared on the field and his story in a lot of ways is terribly sad--none of it got him the world series dream, he's damaged physically forever, and he had to go out in staged event that also didn't really work. That said it came off too often as him relaying the stories we already knew, reciting his own stats, etc. We did get some behind-the-scenes stuff in how he kept some secrets even from the Mets as to his condition, and he revealed a son was due to him & Molly this month. And how his best buddy was Dave Racianello. I guess I knew that a little.



DiComo stays out of the action as co-author but reveals in the acknowledgments he did some 40 interviews mostly with old coaches and teammates and stuff which helped Wright to remember the things he remembers.

[Benjamin Grimm]

And Jaerock Lee? Anything?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Nothing on Jaerock Lee. And there's a whole bit where he talks about the importance of only standing behind brands he believes in--the equity stake in VitaminWater which turned into million$ when it was bought by Coca-Cola--his version of sticking it to The Man was being sure his brothers snuck him Vitamin Water to drink instead of sponsor Gatorade during the ASG HR hitting contest. David Wright is also an early investor in Beyond Meat, he reveals, giving me an opening to try and interview him for work.



He wants us to believe btw that being named "captain" of the NL ASG HR contest team was a career highlight he took seriously-- seriously enough to name his buddy Michael Cuddyer to the squad ahead of whatshisname from the Braves. I can barely remember anything Cuddyer did for the Mets but he appears in a lot of highlights in Wright's memory.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't think I'm going to read this book.

[kcmets]

Aside from things written by friends my completionist self for Mets books

ended some time ago.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It ended for me when Lenny Dykstra "wrote" a book.

[bmfc1]

Aside from things written by friends my completionist self for Mets books ended some time ago.

We'll see in March, 2022 when this book is released: "#LFGM: How Pete Alonso and the Mets Won the World Series and Brought New York City Back To Life", by Greg W. Prince.

[Edgy MD]

I still think there's a killer Johnny Lunchbucket/Bobby Valentine collaboration simmering on back burner somewhere.

[kcmets]

I have plenty of shelf space for our rock stars!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: I still think there's a killer Johnny Lunchbucket/Bobby Valentine collaboration simmering on back burner somewhere.

Wow, I love that idea!



I also am burning with an idea for a different baseball book, the first one I've had that might actually sell. But doing that properly would require that I take a leave from my job for a year and for the coronavirus to be cured, so maybe this Valentine idea isn't so bad in the meantime. It's actually a great idea.



For now I'm off the Wright memoirs and onto the Peter Frampton memoirs, just released!

[Edgy MD]

A Valentine book would probably come with at least some small advance, and make the leave of absence at least a little bit more workable.

[Benjamin Grimm]

And if Bobby's not interested, there's always Ellis Valentine. Or even Karen Valentine!



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[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Edgy MD wrote: A Valentine book would probably come with at least some small advance, and make the leave of absence at least a little bit more workable.

Heck I could the Valentine book on Zoom interviews. My other imagined project involves visiting 30 MLB stadiums with fans in them

[Edgy MD]

Don't forget to get a translator for the Japanese interviews.