Jon Niese, Daniel Murphy, David Wright, Matt Harvey and Dillion Gee taking a photo with a fan.
Photo by Michael Florio
The Queens-based New York Mets third baseman David Wright teamed up with Georgia-based nonprofit this week to host a special fantasy football draft along with teammates and fans for charity.
The draft, referred to as The Wright Stuff, was hosted Wednesday night with entrants paying a whopping $3,000 to get a spot in one of the leagues and another $6,000 to guarantee a spot in Wright’s league.
There were three simultaneous drafts – one with Wright and teammate Daniel Murphy, another with Mets players Jonathon Niese and Dillon Gee and the last with pitcher Matt Harvey.
Trey Wainwright helped start and fund Big League Impact along with brother and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright just one year ago.
“All of the players are putting 25 percent of the proceeds together to do an international basic needs project to provide food, water and shelter to people in need,” Trey Wainwright said.
But most of the money stays local, the organizer said, with Wright electing which charities to send it to. The Mets star said he chose the Mets foundation, the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island and the Ronald McDonald House of New York.
“It’s great have your teammates show up and these gracious fans show up to help support the cause, Wright said. “It’s pretty cool.”
David Wright reviews his draft day notes. Photo by Michael Florio
The event was pegged a major success, working in tandem with the St. Louis Cardinals organization to raise over $200,000 for charity this season, according to Wainwright.
“It’s great cause. The players love to compete and enjoy fantasy football while getting the opportunity to interact with the fans and raise money for charity,” he said.
Each draft featured fantasy football experts from the Fantasy Sports Network and RotoExperts.com, including Queens locals Scott Engel and Adam Ronis.
“It’s a great opportunity for fans to get together with their favorite athletes for a good cause,” said Engle. “At the Fantasy Sports Network, we always believed fantasy sports could bring people together, and that’s exactly what it did and we are happy to support the cause.”
Engle, who was in the league with Wright and Murphy, said the players were able to hold their own in the fantasy draft.
Wright, an avid fantasy football player, said he was looking forward to playing this league with his teammates and fans.
“It will be fun to talk trash [to league mate Daniel Murphy] and will keep us in touch throughout the winter,” Wright said. “There’s no better way for fans to break the ice than to talk trash about someone’s pick.”
His strategy was to take the best player available, ending up with a team loaded with talent, including NFL stars LeSean McCoy, Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown and Vincent Jackson. He had the second pick in his 10-team league.
Murphy went in with a similar approach, ending up with Demaryius Thomas, Dez Bryant, Doug Martin and Rob Gronkowski on his team. He had the eighth pick in the draft.
“This is a great opportunity to do something we really enjoy, while raising money,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
Murphy said he hasn’t been the best in their Mets clubhouse league, but was still looking forward to competing against Wright in this league.
“I’d be willing to trade with Wright if it worked out for both teams. I’m not going to trade with him just because he’s our captain. It’s prison rules out there,” he joked.
Fans participating in the draft also received photo opportunities with the participating players and Mr. and Mrs. Met, an autographed ball by the participating players, a behind the scenes tour of Citi Field, VIP access to the Mets batting practice and tickets to that nights game against the Braves.
By Michael Florio
