The 5: The Fivest Of Them All

It's happening today! The first retired number of any player who's played his entire career with the Mets will be retired today, and of course, it's David Wright's number 5.

So we here at "The 5" are extra excited to celebrate the Mets number 5 (who also happened to play position number 5), with the five best plays of his Mets career.

As you'll see, these are the five best plays of David Wright's Mets career. This means that his Team USA highlight moments don't make the cut, awesome as they were. Similarly, Wright's 2006 home run, which he hit while representing the Mets in the All-Star Game, doesn't fit the bill.

Now that we've got that squared away, here are number 5's five greatest Mets moments:

5. Only Walk-off HR, 8/7/2008

Jody Gerut hit 59 home runs in his 6-year MLB career. While his most memorable home run, from a Mets standpoint, was the first regular season home run ever hit at Citi Field, it was a different home run that set the stage for this David Wright moment. On August 7, 2008, Gerut's one-out home run in the top of the 9th inning off Mets reliever Scott Schoeneweis tied the game up at 3 and stunned the getaway day crowd at Shea Stadium. The Mets had been struggling to hold onto first place, and this late-game blown save wasn't helping.

Then up stepped David Wright with two outs and a runner on first base. He took a 1-0 pitch from former Mets pitcher, Heath Bell, over the left field fence for the only walk-off home run of his entire career, while energizing the crowd that had been silenced just moments before.

4. Subway Series Walk-off, 5/19/2006

The Mets had high expectations coming into the 2006 season. Their roster looked to be the most complete that it had been in a few years, featuring (among others) their two young infielders, Jose Reyes and David Wright, who were starting to become the superstars they had been touted to be. The team had taken over first place and looked primed to hold onto it for the long haul. But, there were some who thought that in order to really prove that they'd made it, they'd have to beat their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees.

So when the Bronx Bombers came to Queens for a mid-May weekend series, the games took on a deeper level of importance than they a spring series normally would.

As often happens between these two teams, the game was a back and forth affair, with the Yankees opening up an early lead, the Mets eventually tying it, the Yankees regaining the lead, and again, the Mets evening it out. In the top of the 9th, new Mets closer (and future Hall of Famer) Billy Wagner struck out all three Yankees he faced: Jason Giambi, Alex Rodriguez, and Kelly Stinnett. In the bottom of the 9th, while facing the Yankees own future Hall of Fame closer, Mariano Rivera, Paul LoDuca's one-out double put the potential winning run on second base.

While Rivera struck out Carlos Beltran for the second out, the Yankees intentionally walked cleanup batter Carlos Delgado, instead choosing to face number five (hey, look at that) hitter, David Wright. Rivera was one strike away from making the strategy pay off, but on this 2-2 pitch, Wright launched a fly ball over the head of Yankees center fielder, Johnny Damon, to give the Mets a 7-6 walk-off victory.

3. Returning with a Bang, 8/24/2015

August 2015 was an exciting time for the Mets. They're deadline acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes helped ignite them on a run that would eventually lead to the World Series. It was late in that month though that the Mets would add another key player to their roster. David Wright had missed almost the entire season up to that point, with his last appearance coming in mid-April. As the story goes, even that day, Wright wasn't sure he was ready to play. He had been unsuccessful in his minor league rehab games and while he was happy to rejoin the Mets while they were on a roll, he also didn't want ruin their mojo. Manager Terry Collins saw it differently, and started Wright, batting him cleanup against the Phillies in Citizens Bank Park. With the Mets down 3-0, Wright led off the second inning, and it didn't take him long to get re-acclimated...

The solo shot got the Mets bats going, and they would eventually beat the Phillies 16-7.

2. Caught Bare-Handed, 8/9/2005

David Wright did plenty of wonderful things in 2005, his first full season in the majors. That year he hit 27 home runs, drove home 102 runs, had a .912 OPS, even finished in the top 20 in NL MVP voting for the third-place Mets.

It was one play in the field though that stood out.

On August 9th that season, with the Mets playing in San Diego, a simple Brian Giles bloop to shallow left enabled Wright to turn in the play that won MLB.com's Play of the Year Award for the 2005 season. The most memorable fielding play for the eventual two-time Gold Glove third baseman came without a glove at all.

1. World Series Hero, 10/30/2015

It's a moment that so many kids have dreamed about: playing in the World Series for your favorite team in your home stadium. And this was David Wright's moment to live that dream.

Now, up to that point, not everything was dreamy for the Mets. They were down two game to none to the Kansas City Royals, and already down 1-0 in Game 3, the first World Series game ever at Citi Field.

And for Wright, the season had been a struggle. Injuries had limited him to 38 games, and there were some pretty significant signs that his career days were numbered.

But the Mets star still had some magic in him, as he launched a 1-0 fastball into the stands in left field, hitting a 2-run home run in his first Mets home World Series at-bat. For the game, Wright drove in 4 runs to help the Mets to their lone victory in that World Series, as they beat the Royals 9-3.

David Wright's humility and team-first attitude helped make him a leader for the Mets, and earned him the honor of being named team Captain. His flair for the dramatic, and his ability to come through in clutch moments, endeared him to Mets fans, who are no doubt proud to see the team retire his number 5.

Please share your thoughts/memories/suggestions in the comments below.