| ] BY DAVID LENNON
dave.lennon@newsday.com The most accessible athlete in New York these days has to be David Wright. Not even Derek Jeter has appeared on more magazine covers, video game boxes or ESPN promos lately than the Mets' photogenic third baseman. Wright even has his own wax figure next to the Yankees captain's at Madame Tussauds, despite lacking Jeter's October resume. It was about midway through last season that Wright officially became the face of the Mets, and split from his fellow boy wonder, Jose Reyes. The two young stars always had been linked together, and a picture of them high-fiving each other adorned the cover of the team's 2006 pocket schedule. But somewhere between Wright's appearance last July on the "Late Show with David Letterman" and the marketing strategy for Vitamin Water, he became the darling of Madison Avenue. Reyes had to settle for being the most electrifying -- if understated -- Met. Around the same time Wright dished to New York Magazine for a behind-the-scenes exclusive last month, Reyes was featured in a lengthy and glowing Village Voice article, but with the caveat that he "has given very few interviews." On the surface, that makes Reyes seem almost reclusive when it comes to the media, but that is hardly the case. The only person easier to speak with in the Mets' universe is longtime PR guru Jay Horwitz. So why is Reyes, an All-Star and MVP candidate, still waiting to be featured solo on the sides of buses and subway cars? Not because of his gleaming smile, infectious laugh or pure joy on a baseball field. Despite New York's love affair with the Dominican shortstop, there often can be a gap between the Latino or Asian player and the fan base, from both a marketing and media standpoint. "I think there is," said Carlos Delgado, a 13-year veteran. "It doesn't matter how many international players we have, the main media in the United States speaks English. So you can have players from Japan like Ichiro, who gets the recognition, but he doesn't get the same exposure to the extent that he gets in Japan. Even like Chan Ho Park in Korea. There's still a gap there." The results of an annual study by the University of Central Florida released last week showed more than 40 percent of major-league players are Latino (29.4 percent), African-American (8.4) or Asian (2.4). The Mets are well ahead of that curve, with 14 of their 25 players (56 percent) in those categories, including 12 (48 percent) of Latino descent. They also have one of six African-American managers in Willie Randolph and the only Latino GM in Omar Minaya. That makes for a very comfortable environment for Reyes and many others who communicate almost exclusively in Spanish at times, depending on the group they are hanging out with. But Reyes is very conscious of the need for him to get better in English, and he never shies away from a conversation. "The most important thing about English," Reyes said, "is that you have to keep talking it." The Mets created a perfect bridge to the fans for Reyes last season when they came up with the Professor Reyes segment on the leftfield DiamondVision screen. In the show, Reyes picks a Spanish word, such as guapo (handsome) or veloz (fast), and selected fans try to pronounce it, with Reyes critiquing their efforts. It was one of the most popular segments, and Reyes taped new episodes during spring training. "I watch it sometimes on the field," Reyes said. "Everyone seems to like it and that's fun for me." Unlike Wright, who polled fans through Internet voting to determine a song for his fourth at-bat, Reyes picked all four himself for Monday's home opener at Shea Stadium. The first two are Reggaeton beats, including one of his own making, followed by a couple of hip-hop tunes, DJ Unk's "Walk It Out" and Mims' "This Is Why I'm Hot." Reyes' favorite, however, is the "Jo-se, Jo-se, Jo-se" chant that fills Shea just about every time he steps onto the field. "It makes me feel like I have to do something special for them," said Reyes, smiling. "It always gets me fired up to do something good." Reyes usually succeeds, and Delgado believes it's only a matter of time before his accomplishments on the field increase his appeal off it. "You can also make an argument that he's still young," Delgado said. "The one reason why there's a gap is because of the language and cultural barrier, and I'm 100 percent positive that his talent and his character are going to overcome that. It's just a matter of time before he blossoms even more." | 
