NEW YORK (AP) — David Wright is rooting for Juan Soto and the New York Mets to win the World Series title that eluded him.
“It seems like the will to win within the organization is incredible,” the former Mets captain said Wednesday during a Zoom news conference that followed the team's announcement that his No. 5 will be retired on July 19.
New York, which won its only titles in 1969 and 1986, has become baseball's biggest spender since Steve Cohen bought the team from the Wilpon and Katz families ahead of the 2021 season. Soto was given a record $765 million, 15-year contract last month.
“It's a win-at-all-costs, do-whatever-you-can-to-win type mentality, and that’s something that I love,” Wright said. “It’s something that the city loves. It’s something that the fan base certainly loves. ... The goal is not just set now to win one championship. It’s hey, let’s go on a run and win multiple championships.”
Wright’s number will be the 10th retired by the Mets, the sixth under Cohen. Wright spent his entire 14-season big league career with the Mets and will enter the team’s Hall of Fame, joining Tom Seaver as the only players to receive both honors on the same day.
He had some advice for first baseman Pete Alonso, a free agent after spending his first six seasons with the Mets. Wright cited the Yankees' Derek Jeter and Atlanta's Chipper Jones, who also played for only one organization.
“It’s a different feeling when you’re drafted, developed and playing for the team that gave you your first opportunity,” Wright said. “There’s a little more — maybe a lot more pride when you put that jersey on every night. And I hope he remembers that and doesn’t lose sight of that. With that being said, I’ve never, ever faltered as a player for maximizing his earning potential.”
Speaking from his home near the California wildfires, Wright discussed his career as a seven-time All-Star. He hit .296 with 242 homers, 970 RBIs and 196 stolen bases from 2004-18, slowed by neck, back and shoulder injuries that required surgery. He credited his success to his father, a police office, and his mother, an elementary school teacher's assistant.
“That blue-collar bring your-lunch-pail-to-work mentality stuck with me my entire career," Wright said. “I knew that I wasn’t the most talented, most gifted player on the field, but I always felt like I was the most prepared."
Wright, who turned 42 on Dec. 20, will join Dwight Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Jerry Koosman, Willie Mays, Mike Piazza, Seaver and Darryl Strawberry as Mets players with retired numbers. Managers Gil Hodges' and Casey Stengel's numbers also were retired. After the Mets made the announcement Monday, Wright received a text from Hernandez.
“I don’t think it’s hit me. I don’t think it’s ever going to hit me,” Wright said. “I truly feel like it’s a bit undeserved given the skill and accomplishments of some of the numbers that I’ll be amongst up there. I joke that I think there should be a special section maybe for my number because it’s probably not deserving being amongst the really, really good players in the organization.”
Wright recalled getting constructive criticism from Strawberry during his playing days.
“When I knew Darryl was there I wanted to play well because I wanted him to come high-five me and I didn’t want to have that conversation about why I stunk that night," he said.
Wright said the transition from playing was eased by family duties. He coaches the soccer team of 8-year-old daughter Olivia, the softball team of 6-year-old daughter Madison and the baseball team of 4-year-old son Brooks and takes them to occasional Mets games.
“I enjoy the look in their eyes when they see Francisco Lindor or Brandon Nimmo come over and say hello in full uniform," he said. "They look at me and they’re like, 'Daddy, you used to do that?'”
He played just two games for the Mets after 2016, returning to be honored with a pair of cameos at the end of the 2018 season.
“I felt like I was crying all the time, so I’m going to try to tough it up a little bit this go-around,” he said.
Wright had realized he no longer could play at a major league level.
“I remember my rehab assignments," he said, “just hoping that the game would go as fast as possible and that they wouldn’t hit me any balls at third base because I didn’t want to bend over funny or dive funny or have to make a weird off-angle throw because something might hurt.”
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FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2018, file photo, New York Mets' David Wright returns to the dugout after an on-field ceremony during a baseball game against the Miami Marlins in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)
Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday that more than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, with no end in sight to the 15-month conflict.
The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded. It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but does not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. It blames Hamas for their deaths because it says the militants operate in residential areas.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are now packed into sprawling tent camps along the coast with limited access to food and other essentials. Israel has also repeatedly struck what it claims are militants hiding in shelters and hospitals, often killing women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and abducting around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be dead.
In Lebanon, the parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.
The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.
Here's the latest:
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s parliament voted Thursday to elect the country’s army commander, Joseph Aoun, as head of state, filling a more than two-year-long presidential vacuum.
The session was the legislature’s 13th attempt to elect a successor to former President Michel Aoun — no relation to the army commander — whose term ended in October 2022.
The vote came weeks after a tenuous ceasefire agreement halted a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and at a time when Lebanon’s leaders are seeking international assistance for reconstruction.
Aoun was widely seen as the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose assistance Lebanon will need to ensure that Israel withdraws its forces from southern Lebanon as stipulated in the agreement and to fund the post-war rebuilding.
More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Thursday. The ministry said a total of 46,006 Palestinians have been killed and 109,378 wounded.
It has said women and children make up more than half the fatalities, but did not say how many of the dead were fighters or civilians.
The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. It says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants operate in residential areas. Israel has also repeatedly struck what it claims are militants hiding in shelters and hospitals, often killing women and children.
On Thursday, dozens of people took part in funeral prayers outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah for people killed in Israeli strikes the day before.
In the hospital morgue, a man could be seen kneeling and bidding farewell to a relative before slamming a refrigerator door in an outburst of grief.
Palestinian health officials said Israeli airstrikes killed at least nine people in Gaza on Wednesday, including three infants — among them a 1-week-old baby — and two women.
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s interior affairs minister says a total of 52,622 refugees have returned to Syria from Turkey in the first month following Bashar Assad’s removal from power on Dec. 8.
Speaking at the Cilvegozu border crossing between Turkey and Syria on Thursday, Ali Yerlikaya said that more than 40,000 Syrians had returned with family members while some 11,000 individuals crossed into Syria alone.
“The voluntary, safe, honorable and regular returns have started to increase,” Yerlikaya said.
Turkey has hosted the largest number of Syrian refugees since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011 — more than 3.8 million at its peak in 2022.
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has further tightened restrictions on media coverage of the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip amid mounting concerns that soldiers could face legal action abroad.
The restrictions announced late Wednesday mainly apply to media interviews, and include a requirement that soldiers holding the rank of colonel or below only be filmed from behind and identified by their first initial. Those ranked brigadier general or above can be identified, but must receive prior guidelines.
Any filming in combat zones also must be approved by the military’s legal department.
Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering Gaza outside of embeds organized by the military.
The military recently warned soldiers against posting on social media after legal action over alleged war crimes was initiated against a soldier who was visiting Brazil.
Israel says it is operating in accordance with international law in Gaza and makes every effort to avoid harming civilians. But soldiers have posted dozens of photos and videos that appear to show them rummaging through homes and burning or blowing up residential buildings.
The military says it investigates and punishes any violations of military conduct. It says Hamas has built extensive military infrastructure in civilian areas, necessitating the demolition of buildings.
The army says it is working on additional guidelines for soldiers on what they can post to social media.
NEW YORK — Family members of Americans being held hostage in Gaza are planning to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration later this month.
Representatives for the family members said they plan to meet with officials in the incoming Trump administration and members of Congress to urge them to prioritize the safe return of the hostages.
Seven Americans are among the dozens of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Trump has sent his incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to Qatar this week for additional talks to work on their release. The Republican president-elect has threatened Hamas by warning that “All hell will break out” if the hostages aren't released.
Israeli soldiers attend the funeral of 1st Sgt. Matityahu Ya'akov Perel, who was killed in a battle in the Gaza Strip, at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Destroyed buildings stand inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Palestinian women look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Kareem Al-Dabaji mourns his brother Anas Al-Dabaji, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit an apartment in Deir Al-Balah, at Al-Aqsa Hospital morgue in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Lebanese lawmakers count the votes after casting their ballots to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, casts his vote to elect a new president, at the parliament building in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Lebanese Parliament media office via AP)
Smoke rises following an explosion in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Members of the Bedouin community, part of Israel's Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship, attend the funeral of Yosef Al Zaydani in Rahat, southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 after the Israeli military said his body of was recovered in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A Palestinian looks at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians look at a damaged residential building following an overnight Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
