George Wright

George Wright came from a sporting family, and his father was already a cricket professional in New York. When his club moved from Harlem to Hoboken, George got to know baseball and joined the the New York Gothams amateur club in 1864. After a short spell as a catcher, he moved to the position of shortstop and was soon to become one of New York’s best players.

Although playing as a cricket professional in Philadelphia, George Wright soon was recruited by a baseball club in Washington, DC. In 1867, he led the Washington Nationals successfully on one of baseball’s first tours. In the following year, he was named America’s best shortstop. In 1869, he signed with the Cincinnati Red Stockings club, the club of his brother Harry, as their highest paid player. He helped the Red Stockings to a clean 57-0 season record. But with other clubs catching up and Cincinnati losing their dominance, the team was disbanded in 1870.

The Wright brothers founded a new club in Boston within the new National Association. Under his brother Harry’s management, George led the team of the Boston Red Stockings to four consecutive championships (1872-75) with several new records although he had to take a break suffering a broken leg in 1871. Past his prime in the late 1870s, George Wright captained the Providence Grays to win the National League championship in 1879. He was also influential regarding the game’s rules and strategies. He ended his career with 866 hits, 665 runs scored, 11 home runs, 326 RBIs, and a .301 batting average.

Wright played his last baseball season in 1892 but continued to be one of the country’s best cricket players with the Longwood Cricket Club of Boston and created the first golf club in New England in Boston’s Franklin Park. He was also a successful entrepreneur in merchandising sporting goods. The company was bought by Spalding’s in 1892.

In 1912, he was the umpire of the baseball game between Sweden’s mixed team and the United States, held as a demonstration during the 1912 Olympic Games. One year later, his wife Abigail “Abbie” died. In 1937, George Wright died of complications from a stroke. In the same year, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His son Beals Wright was a two-time gold medallist in tennis at the 1904 Olympic Games.