George Wright, Baseball's First Superstar Shortstop, Was Born

George Wright was born on January 28, 1847, in Yonkers, New York. He became the first great position player in professional baseball and the shortstop on the sport's first all-professional team.

In 1869, Wright's older brother Harry organized the Cincinnati Red Stockings as the first openly all-salaried club. George earned $1,400, the team's highest salary, and justified every dollar. During the Red Stockings' legendary 1869 season, the team went undefeated, and George posted a batting average above .600. He scored 339 runs and hit 49 home runs by the conventions of the era, dominating the competition in a way few players have matched at any level.

When the Red Stockings disbanded after the 1870 season, the Wright brothers helped found the Boston Red Stockings of the new National Association and later the National League. George continued to play at an elite level throughout the 1870s and helped Boston win four consecutive pennants.

Wright was also an innovator. He is credited with being among the first shortstops to play off the baseline and field balls on the run, anticipating the modern approach to the position. He later became a successful sporting goods entrepreneur and a promoter of tennis, golf, and hockey in the Boston area.

On this same date in 1888, 350 fans at Lincoln Park in Chicago watched a baseball game played on ice, with Fred Pfeffer of the Chicago White Stockings performing in a top hat. The "Spaldings" beat the "North-Siders" 7-6 in five innings. Off-season spectacles like these kept the sport in the public consciousness during the long winter months.

Wright entered the Hall of Fame in 1937.