When the Phillies officially shipped mainstay Jimmy Rollins to the Dodgers on Friday, they ended his hold on MLB’s longest active streak of games played with a single team.
In his 15 years with Philadelphia, Rollins played 2,090 games for the Phils, a figure that led all active players for roughly ten weeks following the retirement of Derek Jeter.
Now that both shortstops have moved on from their respective franchises, —in one way or another—a new king of the baseball lifers emerges; Mets captain David Wright.
Wright now leads all active players with 1,508 games played with one team; all as a Met, and only a Met.
Chase Utley is a close second; having racked up 1,478 games with the Phillies in 12 seasons compared to Wright’s 11.
Let’s also take this time to wish David Wright a very Happy Birthday as he turns 32 today.
When Wright celebrated the 10 year anniversary of his MLB debut on July 21, 2014, the franchise leader in hits, doubles, runs, walks and RBI reflected fondly on his time with.
“I’ve had some great memories here and hopefully there’s a lot more to come,” Wright said. “Hopefully one day I’ll be able to sit back and reminisce and go through videos or whatever and be able to pat myself on the back and have some fond memories.”
In this frenzied age of free agency, and with all the insane amount of money being tossed around in huge mega deals, it’s becoming increasingly rare to see one player spend his entire MLB career with the team that drafted and developed him.
There is something special to be said about Wright’s more than 1,500 games played in blue-and-orange, especially given a frustrating past several years for the organization.
Contracted to another six seasons in Flushing, the seven-time all-star could very well hold onto this achievement for some time.
