Harry Wright

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William Henry Wright (January 10, 1835 – October 3, 1895) was an English-born American professional baseball player, manager, and developer. He assembled, managed, and played center field for baseball's first fully professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings. There he is credited with introduction of backing up plays in the outfield and shifting defensive alignments based on hitters' tendencies. He is in the Baseball Hall of Fame classified as a manager, a role that he virtually defined.

Born in Sheffield, England, the first son of professional cricketer Samuel Wright, "Harry" was not yet three when the family emigrated to the U.S. for a job as bowler, coach, and groundskeeper at the St. George Cricket Club in New York. Both Harry and George, twelve years younger, assisted their father, effectively apprenticing as cricket "club pros". Both played baseball, too, for some of the leading clubs during the amateur era of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP). George grew up with the "national game" and he was barely in his teens when the American Civil War curtailed its boom; Harry was already twenty-two when the baseball fraternity convened for the first time and thirty when the war ended.

Contents 1 Cincinnati 2 Manager 3 1871 4 Career Statistics 4.1 Playing Statistics 4.2 Managerial Statistics 5 References

[edit] Cincinnati

When baseball boomed in 1866, the first full peacetime season, Harry Wright was 31, probably past his athletic prime. He moved to Cincinnati on salary at the Union Cricket Club. Less than a year later he became, in effect, club pro at the Cincinnati Base Ball Club, although he is commonly called simply a baseball "manager" from that time.

Cincinnati fielded a strong regional club in 1867. With Wright working as the regular pitcher, and still a superior player at that level, the team won 16 matches and lost only to the Nationals of Washington DC on their historic tour. For 1868 he added four players from the East and one from the crosstown Buckeye club, a vanquished rival. The easterners, at least, must have been compensated by club members if not by the club.

When the NABBP permitted professionalism for 1869, Harry augmented his 1868 imports (retaining four of five) with five new men, including three more originally from the East. No one but Harry Wright himself remained from 1867; one local man and one other westerner joined seven easterners on the famous First Nine. The most important of the new men was brother George, probably the best player in the game for a few years, the highest paid man in Cincinnati at $1400 for nine months. George at shortstop remained a cornerstone of Harry's teams for ten seasons.

The Red Stockings toured the continent undefeated in 1869 and may have been the strongest team in 1870, but the club dropped professional base ball after the second season, its fourth in the game. As it turned out, the Association also passed from the scene.

[edit] Manager

During this early era, the rules of the sport for many years prohibited substitution during games except by mutual agreement with opponents, and the role of a team manager was not as specifically geared toward game strategy as is true in the modern era; instead, managers of the period combined the role of a field manager with that of a modern general manager in that they were primarily responsible for signing talented players and forming a versatile roster, as well as establishing a team approach through practice and game fundamentals.

[edit] 1871

Harry Wright is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Wright managed the Boston Red Stockings (1871 - 1875), Boston Red Caps (1876 - 1881), Providence Grays (1882 - 1883) and Philadelphia Quakers/Phillies (1884 - 1893). His teams won six league championships (1872 - 1875, 1877, 1878) and he finished his managerial career with 1225 wins and 885 losses for a .581 winning percentage.

Wright died on October 3, 1895 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, just short of 61 years old. He is buried in West Laurel Hills Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Wright was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1953. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2005. His brother George Wright is also a member of both Halls; a third brother, Sam, also played professionally.

[edit] Career Statistics

[edit] Playing Statistics

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
1871	Boston Red Stockings	31	147	42	44	5	2	0	26	13	2	.299	.356	.361
1872	Boston Red Stockings	48	209	39	52	5	1	0	23	9	2	.250	.281	.284
1873	Boston Red Stockings	58	266	57	67	10	4	2	35	10	3	.252	.279	.342
1874	Boston Red Stockings	40	184	44	58	4	2	2	27	4	2	.315	.330	.391
1875	Boston Red Stockings	1	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.250	.250	.250
1876	Boston Red Caps	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000
1877	Boston Red Caps	1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000
Career		180	816	183	222	24	9	4	111	36	12	.272	.303	.338

[edit] Managerial Statistics

Year	Team	G	W	L	Pct
1871	Boston Red Stockings	31	20	10	.667
1872	Boston Red Stockings	48	39	8	.830
1873	Boston Red Stockings	60	43	16	.729
1874	Boston Red Stockings	71	52	18	.743
1875	Boston Red Stockings	82	71	8	.899
1876	Boston Red Caps	70	39	31	.557
1877	Boston Red Caps	61	42	18	.700
1878	Boston Red Caps	60	41	19	.683
1879	Boston Red Caps	84	54	30	.643
1880	Boston Red Caps	86	40	44	.476
1881	Boston Red Caps	83	38	45	.458
1882	Providence Grays	84	54	32	.619
1883	Providence Grays	98	58	40	.592
1884	Philadelphia Quakers	113	39	73	.348
1885	Philadelphia Quakers	111	56	54	.509
1886	Philadelphia Quakers	119	71	43	.623
1887	Philadelphia Quakers	128	75	48	.610
1888	Philadelphia Quakers	132	69	61	.531
1889	Philadelphia Quakers	130	63	64	.496
1890	Philadelphia Phillies	68	36	31	.537
1891	Philadelphia Phillies	138	68	69	.496
1892	Philadelphia Phillies	155	87	66	.561
1893	Philadelphia Phillies	133	72	57	.558
Career		2145	1225	885	.581

[edit] References

• Alvarez, Mark (1996). "William Henry Wright (Harry)". Baseball's First Stars. Edited by Frederick Ivor-Campbell, et al. Cleveland, OH: SABR. ISBN 0-910137-58-7
• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis (major league manager)
• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis (major league player)
• National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Harry Wright (Hall of Fame biography)
• Retrosheet. "Harry Wright". Retrieved 2006-08-29.
• Wright, Marshall (2000). The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN 0-7864-0779-4

Preceded by: First Manager	Boston Red Caps Managers 1876-1881	Succeeded by: John Morrill
Preceded by: Blondie Purcell	Philadelphia Phillies Manager 1884-1893	Succeeded by: Arthur Irwin