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In a recent special Hall of Names essay called "The Tenth Man," Mike Green pointed out that an alternative approach could have linked Hall of Fame shortstop George Wright with young Mets 3B David Wright, and that this in itself might prove rich fodder for an additional Hall of Names compiilation.

Maybe so. Let's find out.

According to the inestimable BaseballReference.com, a total of 41 men named Wright have played Major League Baseball; but six of them had "Wright" as their middle name rather than as the last, or family name, so they will not be considered for this team.

It's no great loss, frankly, as among the six, the best was probably Bill W. Regan, who played some fair second base for a few years for the late 1920s Red Sox; but of the six, the one you've heard of never even batted in the major leagues -- Archibald W. "Moonlight" Graham of the 1905 Giants and 1989's Field of Dreams.

And then there's Russ Wrightstone, who hit nearly .300 over nine years mostly with the Phillies throughout the 1920s, playing every position on the diamond except catcher, mostly on the corners of the infield. He's out, too.

That leaves us with 34 candidates to show the Wright Stuff (c'mon, you knew that was coming, and at least I kept it out of the headline) -- can we possibly form a gift-basket full roster out of this list of Harry & David intermediaries?

Let's see.

You start with baseball's version of the Wright Brothers, George and Harry, who are this family tree's only Hall of Famers; George was primarily a shortstop, while Harry played a little outfield. By today's standards, these guys weren't Hall of Famers as players, and though both were pennant-winning managers eventually, they are in Cooperstown for their roles in the game's early rise.

And of course, there's David, the young Mets 3B, who has "potential All-Star" written all over him, but for the moment, he has exactly 36 fewer career base-hits than did the immortal Buddy Biancalana.

The only Wright ever to make an All-Star team so far is LHSP Clyde, who won 22 games for the 1970 Angels, but by the time Ryan and Tanana were in place in '74, Clyde was losing 20 games for Milwaukee. Many people thought that Spawn of Clyde, RHSP Jaret, would become the second Wright and the second member of his family to be an All-Star, especially after his performance in the 1997 World Series, but it hasn't happened. Following Jaret's bounceback 15-8 campaign in Atlanta last season, his new employers in the Bronx hope it hasn't happened "yet."

** Hall of Famer
* All-Star

ROTATION
RHSP Jaret Wright (53-45 so far)
LHSP Clyde Wright* (100-111)
RHSP Jamey Wright (back in Coors; bad career move for the 53-72 righty?)
RHSP Dan Wright (14-12 for '02 CHW, just 20-26 career total so far)
RHSP Jin C. Wright (8-3, three ShO for 1978 BOS, just 23 IP after that)

BULLPEN
CL (RH) Ken Wright (11-15, 8 saves for 1970-73 KCR, '74 NYY)
RHRP Mel Wright (2-4, 3 saves for 1954-55 STL, '60-61 CHC)
LHRP Ricky Wright (LAD sent him, Dave Stewart to TEX for R. Honeycutt)
RHP Rasty Wright (24-19 for 1917-23 SLB)
RHP Ed Wright (25-16 mostly for 1945-58 BSN)

STARTING LINEUP
C Bill Wright (2-for-3 in one game for 1897 Washington Nationals)
1B George Wright** (player-co-manager; SS played one career game at 1B)
2B Al Wright (hit 1.000, 1-for-1, in four-game career with '33 BSN)
SS Glenn "Buckshot" Wright (four 100+-RBI seasons in nine years with PIT, BRK)
3B David Wright (The Tenth Man?)
LF Harry Wright** (player-co-manager)
CF Taffy Wright (.311 hitter over nine seasons missed three years for WWII)
RF George D. Wright (.276/18/80 for '83 TEX, not much in four other years)

BENCH
C Dick Wright (0-for-5 in four games for '15 Federal League BTT)
DH Ron Wright (0-for-3 with '02 SEA, never played field in MLB)
2B Pat Wright (0-for-2 in one game for 1890 CHC)
SS Sam Wright (career .168 BA in four years, a CIN SS like George - not!)
OF Joe Wright (.282 for 1895-96 LOU, PIT)

NOT QUITE WRIGHT
OF Tom Wright (99 RBI over nine seasons with five post-WWII teams)
OF Ab Wright (.248 over two years -- 67 games with '35 CLE and 71 for '44 BSN)
OF Rasty Wright (.282 for 1890 Syracuse Stars, Cleveland Spiders)
SS Cy Wright (Ceylon -- insert "Battlestar Galactica" ref -- 0-for-16 for '16 CHW)
RHSP Dave W. Wright (one start, one 7-inning complete game for 1897 CHC)
RHSP Lucky Wright (0-4 but 3.21 ERA for 1909 Cleveland Naps)
RHSP Roy White (one start, one loss for '56 NYG -- 16.88 ERA)
RHRP Jiggs Wright (1-0 in four games for 1927-28 SLB)
RHRP Gene Wright (14-26 for three teams, 1901-04)
RHRP Bob Wright (two games for '15 CHC)
RHRP Jim L. Wright (2-3 for 1981-82 KCR)

COMMENTARY
Obviously, the team is weak from the left side of the mound and behind the plate; and we had to cheat just the tiniest bit to find a 1B, moving our HOF shortstop there since we had a decent alternative for short; the only other Wrights to play 1B are the RHRP Gene, for one game, and the DH Ron, who has only done so in the minor leagues.

We'd love to include RHSP Orville Jorgens, a 10-game winner for the '35 Phillies, and especially LHSP Wilbur Wood, a four-time 20-game winner, but it'd be simply wrong to claim this Wilbur and Orville were Wrights.

So what IS wrong with these Wrights?

These Kids are All-Wright | 4 comments | Create New Account
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Brett - Thursday, March 24 2005 @ 10:34 AM EST (#107345) #
We already have two managers, but perhaps a spot should be made for Pioneer/Hall-of-Famer/Firefighter Alexander Joy Cartwright.

I would also suggest moving George Wright to second base and inserting Jumbo Cartwright at first.

And that's it for the Cartwright's; perhaps it was a distinctly 19th century name (insert "Bonanza"/random Lorne Greene reference here)
Mick Doherty - Thursday, March 24 2005 @ 10:45 AM EST (#107347) #
Oh gosh, Brett, talk about your "Tenth Man" of old pop culture television references!

Alexander Cartwright had the same surname as the family on Bonanza, which was a TV show starring Lorne Greene, who also starred in the original TV series Battlestar Galactica, whose villains were the Ceylons... and Ceylon was the first name of light-hitting 1916 CHW SS Cy Wright.

Awesome!
Brett - Thursday, March 24 2005 @ 07:18 PM EST (#107454) #
Well, there's the baseball Oracle at BBRef, and there's a Kevin Bacon Oracle as well. Someday, some smart person has to combine them together into an interconnected baseball/movies/tv Oracle.

Incidentally, there are only three degrees of separation between Kevin Bacon and Turkey Mike Donlin.

Mike Donlin was in Picture Snatcher (1933) with Ralph Bellamy
Ralph Bellamy was in Amazon Women on the Moon (1987) with David Alan Grier
David Alan Grier was in Woodsman, The (2004) with Kevin Bacon
Anton Sirius - Friday, March 25 2005 @ 04:16 PM EST (#107534) #
Actually, Mick, it's 'Cylons' on Galactica, not Ceylons. Ceylon is what they used to call Sri Lanka...
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