Atlanta Braves Franchise Top 10 Managers–#1 Harry Wright
Lost of Owners Less Money
The Atlanta Braves franchise ownership group changed leadership frequently in the early years, as minority stockholders were added to infuse money, but that couldn’t go on forever.
The economic damage caused by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, the Credit Mobilier Scandal, the Great Boston Fire of 1872, and the collapse of one of the nation’s largest banks hit Boston hard.
Wright’s Bostons repeated their performance in 1878, winning the league with a 41-19 record 4.5 games ahead of Cincinnati.
The team lacked the money to continue adding new players, and veterans jumped to teams offering more money, and the Bostons finished second in 1879, then slumped to sixth in 1880 and 1881. Fans blamed Wright, and tired of being unappreciated in Boston, he turned the team over to John Morrill and left for Providence to manage the Grays.
An Atlanta Braves Analogy
Today’s world makes it difficult to understand everything Harry Wright did for the franchise. Imagine that the league dissolved and a new league was forming.
You’ve convinced four friends to provide the money and have enough political pull to get a ballpark built in Atlant. You have to find a man – one man – with a reputation beyond reproach, a record getting players to come to a team just because this paragon of virtue is there.
He’s a man who will be involved with the formation of the league, recommending rule changes like moving the mound and guiding the league through the financial woes of a country racked by disaster. Oh, and he’s expected to build and manage teams that win year after year.
Finding such a man in 1869-70 was a tall order, but Harry Wright was the best answer.
Providence Grays Fade to Black
Harry Wright got the best out of the Grays, but they lacked the skill to become champions, and owners lacked the money to pay for the best talent. To offset those issues, Wright came up with the idea of a team of amateurs who would play games at the home field while the Grays were traveling.
He felt this would add a little money and create a better-trained ballplayer who would advance to the Grays when someone was injured or the player was ready to play at a higher level.
It took a few decades to become a reality, but today, every team uses the reserve system, better known as the farm system.
The Quakers (Phillies)
After two years at Providence, the club went out of business. Wright Moved to the Philadelphia Quakers – Phillies – and spent the 10 seasons with them even though they often failed to pay the players or their manager.
While managing the Phillies, an illness caused Wright to temporarily lose his sight in May. It gradually returned over time and fully returned in March of 1891. Over the same period, his wife became ill and passed away.
Wright and minority owner John Rogers never got along. Rogers thought he knew a lot about baseball and tried to micromanage Wright . . . that sounds familiar . . . and Rogers made sure the Phillies didn’t renew his contract after the 1893 season, incurring the ire of fans and the local press.
Epilogue
The National League wasn’t happy about the Phillies’ treatment of Wright either, so they created a position called Chief of Umpires that would only last until Wright’s death. It was a way to guarantee Wright some income and keep him in the game. In 1895, Wright and the job died.
Before his death, Wright donated his personal belongings to the league he helped found and nurture. Possibly the first donation of such memorabilia to the league. On April 13, 1896, the National League held Harry Wright Day, with proceeds going towards a memorial. According to his SABR bio, in 1886, a newspaper said Wright was. “undoubtedly the best known baseball man in the country.”
Even Rogers, his determined enemy, declared, “It has therefore truly been said, that so identified was he with the progress and popularity of the game its history is virtually his biography.”
Typical of the BBWAA, they ignored Harry Wright. Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis was unhappy with the BBWAA’s lack of action in every way, so he formed the Pioneer/Executive committee and . . . selected Harry’s brother George to enter the Hall of Fame.
Harry Wright was finally given his long overdue plaque in 1953.
Henry Chadwick wrote of Wright’s death:
“No death among the professional fraternity has occurred which elicited such painful regret. (He was) the most widely known, best respected, and most popular of the exponents and representatives of professional baseball, of which he was virtually the founder.”
That’s a Wrap
No Atlanta Braves manager met and conquered challenges like those Harry Wright faced. The Civil War remained an open wound, and reconstruction hadn’t begun when he built the Boston Red Stockings.
His team dominated the NA with such ease that opposing fans demanded the league Break-Up the Red Stockings. When other teams poached his players, he rebuilt with lesser talents and still won the pennant.
Players and executives of that era knew the name of the father of professional baseball. It was also the name of the manager of the Bostons. Harry Wright.