Mets third baseman David Wright, already a star in just his second full season in the major leagues, is enjoying his emerging celebrity status in New York – one that sees him nearing the level of Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter of the Yankees, and of former Mets catcher Mike Piazza. Now he’s just waiting for everyone to start calling him a homo.

            “It kind of comes with being a high-profile baseball player in New York,” says Wright. “If you’re mildly attractive, not black, put up big numbers and get touted by the media, sooner or later everyone outside of New York will start making jokes about you being gay.”

            Despite posting a .306 batting average with 27 home runs and 102 RBI last year, Wright, 23, is only now beginning to receive nationwide attention, as his performance so far this season has helped the Mets to a commanding lead in the National League East.

            “This is kind of the honeymoon period for him right now,” says Mets manager Willie Randolph. “He’s getting some good publicity throughout the country, casual fans are starting to learn his name and by the end of the year he’ll probably be regarded as one of the best players in the game. But a year from now, maybe two at the most, he’ll be holding a press conference to deny rumors that he’s gay, and there will be PhotoShop’d pictures of him all over the Internet holding a purse while up to bat, and people on message boards will be saying a friend of a friend of a friend told them they saw Wright performing oral sex on a guy at a bar – and everyone will take it all as gospel. It’s just how it goes.”

            Wright said he is already taking some measures to head off the rumors, but knows they’re still going to come.

            “I’m not going to get blonde highlights in my hair like Mike Piazza – which, I have to admit, was extremely gay – and I’m not going to do any shirtless beefcake poses in a pair of tight jeans like he did either,” said Wright. “And I don’t plan to spend all my free time at salons like Jeter and A-Rod appear to do. And purple lipstick like A-Rod wears? Not going to do that. I’m not sure if he actually does wear purple lipstick, but it looks like he does, and I read that he does on a message board, so it must be true. And I definitely don’t plan to smoke any pole like Derek Jeter, who I’m almost positive is a limp-wristed queen.”