MOP Squad Sports - George Wright
     
 

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Induction Information
Elected to Hall of Fame by Veterans Committee in 1937, Executive/Pioneer

Born: January 28, 1847, in New York, New York
Died: August 21, 1937, in Boston, Massachusetts

ML Debut: 5/5/1871

Played For: Boston Red Stockings (1871-1875), Boston Red Caps (1876-1878), 1880-1881), Providence Grays (1879, 1882)
Managed: Providence Grays (1879)

Bio
George Wright was the star shortstop of baseball's first openly all-professional team, the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, for whom he hit 49 home runs in 57 games and batted an astounding .633. Besides being a feared slugger, Wright was renowned as a superior fielder, revolutionizing play at shortstop. He went on to captain the Boston Red Stockings to four straight National Association flags (1872-75). He also piloted Boston to National League pennants in 1877 and '78, and in 1879 led Providence to the city's first league championship.

Quote
"George Wright never had any equal as a fielder, base runner and batsman, combined with heady work of a quality never accredited to any ball tosser. All his qualifications taken together, he was really in a class by himself, and I do not know of a ball player today who ever was entitled to be considered in the same breath with him."
   — Jim O'Rourke

Did You Know... that ballplayer George Wright, founder of the Wright and Ditson Sporting Goods Company, is also credited with setting up New England's first nine-hole golf course in 1890?