As David Wright prepared to play the final game of his career this weekend, the Mets legend sat down with The Post’s Steve Serby for a Q&A:

Q: Tell me what you remember about your first day as a Met.
A: I’ll start the night before. We played — I believe — the Durham Bulls in Norfolk. And B.J. Upton was on the Durham team. We were having a great time just because two area kids playing in Triple-A in front of friends and family and things like that. Can’t remember what I did in the game, but then showered up, getting ready to go home, and all of a sudden [manager] John Stearns calls me in the office and says: “You’re going to the big leagues tomorrow.” I kinda thought he was joking. But he was being serious, and I called everybody that I could on my phone to tell them, rushed home, packed. Next morning I had, I want to say it was like a 10 o’clock flight … flying over Shea Stadium for the first time since getting called up, and landing at LaGuardia, going to the hotel and just trying to figure out, “What do I wear? How do I get to the park? What number am I gonna be?” These are all these thoughts that crossed my head, and then walking into the clubhouse for the first time was something special.

I’ll never forget No. 5 hanging in my locker … the uniform, how white it was, and how clean it was, and how new … just really a dream come true for me.

Q: Best baseball moment?
A: Hitting a home run in the first home game in the [2015] World Series. By far the most fun I’ve ever had on a baseball field.

Q: What do you remember thinking running around the bases?
A: I don’t remember running, it was more like a floating (smile). As soon as the ball hit the bat, it was just a feel of … just … the most excited I can ever remember being. Ever. Crossing home plate, getting a chance to look up in the stands just for a few split seconds, and seeing the place legitimately rocking, still to this day sends chills down my spine. And then quick glance over to my family, and just seeing my brothers jumping around, my wife, my parents, my in-laws … it was just complete … awesomeness, if that’s a word.

Q: Most disappointing defeat or moment?
A: 2007, like the last week of the season, was a gut-punch for me. 2007, for lack of a better word, we just choked. That was our division to win, and I think we started pressing as it got a little closer, and just couldn’t seal the deal. 2008 I think we were a good team, we didn’t have the firepower that a lot of these other teams that were right in the thick of it with us had. … I talked about the most fun I ever had on a baseball field — the least amount of fun I’ve ever had on a baseball field was the last game in 2007.

Q: Your first at-bat.
A: I remember that Brian Schneider, who’s still a good friend of mine, made an unbelievable play. I think I had a good at-bat, I fouled off some pitches, and fouled off a pitch and Brian Schneider basically dove in the dugout to make the play on me.

Q: First home run.
A: Montreal, off of John Patterson, I believe? Somebody actually just sent me that video. It’s the first time I’d ever seen it. It was really cool to see the first homer.

Q: How much did you enjoy playing Santa Claus at holiday functions?
A: (Laugh) When I got called up, I always saw Johnny Franco getting a chance to do all this cool stuff. The Mets always asked him to be Santa, or the Mets asked him to do things that I thought was cool. So I always told myself that I’d like to be like Johnny. I’d like, when we have team meetings, for my words to be as important one day as Johnny Franco’s words. Being named captain was the single greatest honor that I’ve ever received in a baseball uniform … but yeah, I love that kind of stuff.

I loved getting to know the community — I think that’s one of the reasons why I have the connection that I have with the city and the fans is that I feel like I’m one of them. I feel like the Mets fans are very blue-collar. I consider myself blue-collar, especially with a police officer father, a mother that worked in the school system. So I think that we understand each other — they get mad at me when I don’t play well, just like I get mad at myself. They have treated me like the greatest thing ever when I played well, even though a lot of times I probably didn’t deserve it, and it was a lot of my teammates that kinda made me look good. They’ve seen me grow. They’ve seen me make a ton of mistakes, they’ve seen me make some good plays. But they always have my back. And the fans have continued to just support me in a way that I never thought was possible.

Q: Who have been your most impactful teammates?
A: I always get the question of who was the toughest pitcher that I’ve ever faced. And it always goes on kind of a generational thing — when I got called up, it was John Smoltz. Then it became Roy Halladay. Then Craig Kimbrel always gave me nightmares. Then Jose Fernandez. And I’ll say the same thing about teammates. When I first got called up, I didn’t know what to wear — I think my first road trip I wore open-toed sandals on the bus, and Joe McEwing’s like, “Are you kidding me? All right, from now on, I’m gonna teach you everything.”

So he took me to the store, he probably paid for the shoes too, knowing Joe. Bought me some nice shoes and said, “You gotta wear nice jeans, nice shoes, collared shirt.” I had no idea where to live. Joe said, “I recommend living here [Long Island City]. Which happened to be in the same building as him. Him and his family cooked me my meals for dinner. He showed me how to go to the ballpark, and this is before Waze and all the apps and stuff. So I remember riding to the ballpark with Joe McEwing, and taking notes along the way like: “I get off of this exit, make a right. When you see the tennis courts, make a left. When you get under the subway station, make a right.” And writing it down, having to use that until I got the hang of it.

Cliff Floyd was instrumental for me. I tried to take a little bit from everybody. I remember [Carlos] Beltran calling me when we had signed him to his free-agent deal, and he said, “You’re gonna work out with me during spring training.” I said, “Great!” and he brought me to the gym, almost every day, and showed me what he did to prepare for the game, and that was the kind of player that I wanted to be, was that five-tool [player].

Carlos Delgado showed me his notebook and said: “I take notes on every pitcher that I face,” so I took a little bit from Carlos Delgado. Paul LoDuca, the way he approached the game, took a little bit from Paul. Even to this day — Jacob deGrom, Jay Bruce are guys that I pick their brain. I ask Jay Bruce about what he thinks at the plate. I ask Jacob DeGrom, for the last two years, “Hey how would you attack me?” I really have been very lucky to have some tremendous teammates, and probably a lot of guys that I forgot to mention.

Q: Terry Collins?
A: Taught me a lot about not just the game, but how Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio and some of these all-time greats approached the work ethic, the preparation, the fire. And I really enjoyed talking baseball with him, just because he’s seen so much, with so many different teams, with Japan and here. He was a tremendous motivator, and I really enjoyed playing for Terry, and certainly enjoyed sitting around talking baseball with Terry as well, because he had so much knowledge, so much knowledge. I think if he was still around for another 10 years, I still wouldn’t be able to get through with all the knowledge that he has to offer about baseball.

Q: Willie Randolph?
A: I was a young player and he was a first-time manager, so I can recall so many walks to and from the ballpark where he put his arm around me and tell me in 2005 that we’re gonna have a good team and that we’re gonna have a lot of fun together, and this is the first of many seasons together. I always was interested in the Yankee Way, and having Willie come over from the Yankees was just, for me, a tremendous honor, how to be a professional, how to prepare. How did those guys over there, those future Hall of Famers, how did they go about their business? And for me [he was] a sounding board as a young player, and to have that kind of confidence in your manager where he’ll come to a young player and talk to me about the things that he talked to me about gave me a tremendous amount of confidence.

Q: The young Jose Reyes?
A: A lot of times the word electric and dynamic gets kind of thrown around loosely in the game … I mean, he could do it all. I could play closer to the line and let him just get everything, just because he had that kind of range. Ball in the gap is an automatic triple, and a lot of times I was the beneficiary for that because I got a chance to get a cheap RBI, guy on third, less than two outs. And if he hit a single, he’d probably steal second, possibly third, put runners in scoring position, so those are the types of X-factors that when you see guys drive in 100 or put up those types of numbers, you gotta have a Jose Reyes at the top of the lineup that is doing the types of things that he’s capable of doing. And he just brings energy day in, day out.

Q: What does your wife Molly think about Saturday?
A: Probably similar to what I think about it, that it’s very, very classy of the organization, and I’m excited, but it’s sad for me because … that I never physically was able to make it back. It’s nice to be able to make it back, but it’s more of an honorary thing because my body just can’t take the game anymore. It’s weird to explain, because it’s almost like you’re accomplishing a goal, but not really. It’s an over-the-top nice gesture by the Mets to allow this to happen. But at the same time, all the work and everything you put in, physically it really is debilitating.

Q: Your daughters are Olivia (2) and Madison (four months). Describe Olivia’s personality.
A: She’s like me, I would say — always busy. Loves to run around and always wants to just be active and do something.

Q: How has fatherhood changed you?
A: Baseball’s always been clearly my priority, since I can remember. And certainly baseball takes a big-time back seat to family. It changes the priorities around in life for sure. Baseball is stressful, but not stressful in the real world. But having kids is stressful in the real world (smile). Somebody said you’ll never have another stress-free day the rest of your life and that’s true.

Q: Why is Molly the right girl for you?
A: She’s great. When people say “best friend,” certainly [she’s] my best friend … provides a stability in my life. I take baseball home with me, so she’s always there just to kind of set me straight and kind of run things just because I’m here so many hours a day. Certainly a great foundation and a rock for me.

Q: Was it love at first sight?
A: (Laugh) I would probably say so, she probably wouldn’t (smile).

Q: Shannon Forde [former Mets public relations executive who died in 2016]?
A: I certainly wish she was here. She’s certainly missed, but probably because of Jay [Horowitz], I don’t think she’ll ever be forgotten, just because it’s impossible to forget a great person, and she certainly was a great person. With naming the fields in New Jersey after her, and just the dedication that Jay puts in to making sure that she’s not forgotten, brings a smile to my face knowing that she’d probably hate it (smile), but the fact that she was there for me as much as she was, I’ll never forget that.

Q: Jay Horwitz [Mets PR institution]?
A: He’d be on the Mount Rushmore of Mets for sure. I can’t tell you how much respect I have for Jay, the work that he’s done, the way that he’s tried to protect me … the way that he’s taught me how to be professional, how to deal with the media. He truly is one of a kind, and somebody that’ll be for me a lifelong friend.

Q: Your first All-Star Game?
A: It’s tough because you come through the minor leagues, and … even in high school you never know how good you are. You think you might be good, people might say that you’re good, but then you go get tested in high school against the kids from Texas, or the kids from California, the kids from Florida. The Mets took a chance on me in the first round. Then, you get to the minor leagues and you’re like, “Yeah, I think I might be good, but how are the kids from the Dominican, how are the kids from Japan, how are the kids from Venezuela and Puerto Rico?” And you try to stack yourself against them now.

They’re not drafting the guys that I beat in high school, they’re drafting guys that beat me in high school. And then, once you make it to the big leagues, you start thinking that same thing: “Yeah I might be good and I might be a solid big-league player, but who knows how I’ll stack up against All-Stars?” And then all of a sudden, you get named to an All-Star team and it really is eye-opening ’cause you’re in the locker room with really the best in the game, and it’s certain Hall of Famers, it’s perennial All-Stars, and it’s like, “Man, do I belong here?” It’s a surreal moment when you’re in the locker room talking baseball or eating lunch with some of your favorite players growing up and guys that you wish that you could just go ask for an autograph but you don’t want to seem cheesy. It was a surreal moment for me.

Q: Why didn’t New York scare you?
A: Maybe it’s a combination of the players that were here when I got called up, the fans, the organization making me feel comfortable. I can’t tell you how many — and obviously, the number of slaps on the back and handshakes and “Good jobs” have multiplied in recent weeks. But the words of encouragement walking down the street to get a coffee, or grab a sandwich, has always been very welcoming to me, and made me feel great, and I think that I’ve always just felt at home.

I said it, and I’ll say it again, that for a New Yorker to accept you as kind of one of their own is an incredible honor. And I will say that I do feel like this is almost like a second home to me because of the welcoming effect of both the city and the fans.

Q: So you feel like a New Yorker.
A: (Smile) Well, I don’t think I talk quite as fast yet. I don’t like the traffic, but I would say everything else I love about this city. I love the excitement, I love the action, I love the energy, I love the passion, and those are a lot of the characteristics that I’d like to think that I have as well. I think it’s a great fit for me.

Q: What do you think your legacy will be?
A: (Chuckle) I’ve always said that legacy is for somebody else to decide. Just like you don’t give yourself nicknames. My dad always told me that, “We never tried to raise a good baseball player, we tried to raise a good person and a good citizen.” And that’s the same thing that I try to live by to this day, is that baseball, in the grand scheme of things, is very short-term.

I’d like to think that I tried to do things the right way, and that I tried to treat people with respect, I tried to be a good teammate, I tried to be a good leader and a good representation for the New York Mets. I will say that if I continue to succeed in those categories, the numbers in baseball speak for themselves good and bad, and I can probably tell you some things that I’m proud about and some things that I’m not so proud about as far as on the baseball field. But I try to live up to the expectations that my parents set for me, and that was more of being a good person as opposed to what you do on a baseball field.

Q: How many times were you ready to pack it in?
A: Never. I had some very incredibly difficult rehab stuff, there’s no question about that. It just got to the point that the doctors just said that it’s not going to get any better. I didn’t feel any better. I just couldn’t play. The effort level’s there. The dedication was there. Your body just doesn’t respond.

I mean, you got days where it’s monotonous, and days you’re like, “I don’t feel like doing this,” but then you turn on the TV and you see the guys playing the game, and you tell yourself: “I want to get back to that. That’s my motivation right there.” And that’s all I ever needed.

Q: Did you ever ask, “Why me?”
A: No! I can’t tell you how lucky I’ve been and how fortunate I’ve been to be able to — you kidding me? — play baseball for the New York Mets. I’ve been the luckiest person. Never ever once thought about “Why me?” I can’t tell you how thankful I am.

Q: Any long-term effects physically?
A: Yeah, there’s gonna be some things I need to stay on top of, for sure. There’s gonna be some exercises I need to do on a daily basis to make sure that there’s not too much of an issue.

Q: The back?
A: My back and neck are just as troublesome as my shoulder these days.

Q: You’ve taught yourself how to manage the pain?
A: Yeah, to the best of my ability. You can’t control what goes on when you get between the lines with the twisting and the turning and the running and the diving and the swinging, and things like that just multiplies the conditions that I have.

Q: What do you see yourself doing in the future?
A: I don’t know yet. I gotta think about what interests me.

Q: Coaching or managing?
A: Unless it’s my girls’ sports teams (smile), I got no interest in coaching or managing.

Q: 10 years from now, what do you see yourself doing?
A: (Laugh) Hopefully being a good dad … let’s see, 10 years from now, it’s too early for my girls to have boyfriends, so (smile) I got a few more years of stress-free life as far as that goes. I love the game, I really do. I’d like to probably stay involved in some capacity, just don’t know what capacity.

Q: What do you think you’ll be feeling standing in the batter’s box Saturday?
A: A sense of pride. A sense of accomplishment. A sense of excitement. Gratitude. Appreciation. Probably a flood of different emotions.

Q: Did you have the kind of career that you imagined as a boy?
A: Oh, I never thought I’d be good enough to play in the big leagues. Never. My goals were I want to try to play in college, I want to try to get a scholarship, somewhere in the ACC. A million times fortunate is what I am to be getting a chance to put this uniform on.

Q: What will you miss most?
A: Taking the field. The fans’ reaction … getting a big hit, that emotion, and that sense of accomplishment that comes with a well-played game, a win … the handshakes when fans want to talk about the game the next day on the way to get a coffee or a sandwich. Just the passion for baseball is what I missed the last couple of years when I haven’t played.

Q: How would you describe what it’s been like being the face of the Mets?
A: I don’t know about that. We’ve had a lot of great players. I’ve always tried to be accountable, I’ve always tried to be accessible, so if that makes you the face, then that’s obviously a nice thing to say. But I’ve always known from Day 1 and from a lot of these veterans that there’s more to playing in New York than just playing baseball.

It’s being respectful to the media. … It’s being accessible for the fans. … It’s signing a couple of extra autographs. It’s taking a couple extra pictures. … It’s things that I’ve always welcomed, just because I was a kid at one point, and I liked autographs (smile), and I liked taking pictures with players, so I’ve always tried to picture myself in the stands or picture a kid watching me play for the first time in the stands, and tried to play the game the right way. I think that I’ve always treated the game that way. If there’s a kid in the stands that is looking for a player to try to emulate like I used to as a young kid, I wanted to be that player.

Q: What do you want to say to New York?
A: I was a kid when I put this Mets uniform on for the first time. I’m not a kid anymore, but … I think “Thank you.” Thanks for welcoming me with open arms. Thank you for staying there and having my back when things weren’t going so well for either me or the team.

And I would say I’ll never be able to put into words how grateful I am for the support, the kind words. When I look back over these last 14 years, some of my greatest memories not only have to do with what happened on the baseball field, but with the reaction of the crowd, and the passion that they had for these teams over the years. So “thank you” doesn’t cut it, but that’s the first thing that comes to mind.