Documentary on former Mets captain David Wright premieres Thursday on SNY

As a kid, Joe Kraus went to Mets games to watch greats like Keith Hernandez and Dwight Gooden.

So when Kraus, SNY’s coordinating content producer, worked on the network’s documentaries for Hernandez and Gooden ahead of their respective number retirement ceremonies in 2022 and 2024, it was a trip down memory lane.

David Wright, whose No. 5 will be retired at Citi Field on Saturday, made his MLB debut in 2004. Kraus, now 47, had a slightly different perspective as an adult during Wright’s career.

“When I went to go see [Hernandez and Gooden] play, my dad took me to those games,” Kraus told Newsday. “When I went to go see David Wright, I was paying for those tickets because I wanted to see David Wright playing.”

That created a fascinating contrast as Kraus spent the past eight months directing and producing “The Wright Way,” a documentary of the former Mets captain that premieres at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on SNY.

“This is our first modern player that we've ever done a documentary on where so many people know his story,” Kraus said. “So it was important to tell a story that people have seen, but also try to show the side to David that a lot of people may not have seen.”

Among Mets with retired numbers, Wright will become the first one who spent his entire career with the organization.

The Captain. The Face. The Legacy.

“The Wright Way," a new documentary on the career and life of David Wright, premieres Thursday, July 17 at 6:30 p.m. on SNY.

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The documentary, set for a two-hour TV slot, is the most comprehensive one SNY has done with more than 50 interviews.

It all started with Wright’s blue-collar upbringing in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where he was raised by Rhon Wright, a police officer, and Elisa Wright, who drove David’s school bus when he was younger.

Kraus said his favorite parts to work on were the interviews with Wright’s family. Rhon Wright gave SNY 30 hours of footage of David and his three younger brothers –– Matt, Daniel and Stephen.

“His dad sent a text thanking us for telling David's story,” Kraus said. “ . . . It really meant a lot to us because that's coming from his dad, and he basically said, ‘You told David's story better than we could have ever imagined.’ ”

Wright grew up a Mets fan because the Norfolk Tides, the franchise’s then-Triple-A affiliate, played just 15 minutes from his house.

The film detailed a story of the Mets deliberating whether to bring Wright directly from Double-A Binghamton to The Show in 2004. He wanted one more pit stop.

“Selfishly, I wanted to go play in Triple-A,” Wright said in the documentary. “It’s my hometown.”

He played 31 games for Norfolk before making his MLB debut that July.

The documentary, narrated by Hank Azaria, went in-depth through Wright’s entire career, including his first All-Star season in 2006.

Wright called the 2007 collapse, when the Mets blew a seven-game, mid-September lead in the NL East, “the most disappointed I've ever been on a baseball field, and that's not even close.”

The film detailed Wright’s battles with numerous career-derailing injuries, now seen as a great “what if?” that likely put an end to a potential Hall of Fame case.

Wright was part of the Mets’ 2015 run to the World Series, but he played just 37 games in 2016 and missed all of 2017 before his emotional two-game sendoff in 2018.

“For me, his legacy is the best person and player to ever put on a Mets uniform,” Michael Cuddyer, a fellow Virginia native and Wright’s former teammate, said in the film.

Wright, now 42 and living in California, is a father to two daughters and a son. The documentary includes footage of Wright with his children, which Kraus said was “very, very special for us” and shows another side of the Mets’ all-time hit leader.

“I can't even imagine right now standing on the field and looking up and seeing a No. 5 next to some of the game's greats,” Wright said in the documentary. “I'm waiting for myself to wake up from this dream, because that's what it feels like.”

On Saturday, it will become reality.