tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post2423997946997839549..comments2024-01-24T05:19:09.805-06:00Comments on This Game Of Games: An Established FactJeffrey Kittelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02367989375750209078noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post-9392487618739098812009-05-12T14:19:00.000-05:002009-05-12T14:19:00.000-05:00I thought I had posted something about Wright befo...I thought I had posted something about Wright before but didn't find anything in the blog archives. However, about a year ago, I published something from Cash's book about Orrick Bishop going east to sign players for the Brown Stockings and Wright's name came up in the comments (as did the Miller contract). <br /><br />Cash mentioned that Bishop signed Pike, Pearce, Dehlman and Chapman with no mention of Wright's role in signing players. He went on to write that Bishop "discovered the rest of his starting nine in and around Philadelphia..." Interestingly, Spink doesn't mention Wright's role either. However, it makes perfect sense that the Brown Stockings would have an eastern agent acting for them-someone who knew the teams and players and could bird dog for them. Also, if the plan was for Wright to manage the club, it would make sense to have him signing the players and putting together the team. It probably was not until Wright decided not to manage the club that Bishop went east and signed more players (and if my memory is correct, I think this was in November). <br /><br />Not sure about the other "prominent eastern reporter."Jeffrey Kittelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02367989375750209078noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post-45429943795632256702009-05-12T12:29:00.000-05:002009-05-12T12:29:00.000-05:00Wright said in the fall of 1874 that he had acted...Wright said in the fall of 1874 that he had acted as a representative of the St. Louis club in the east for a while until he stepped down in favor of another prominent eastern reporter, and the item about his deciding to stay with the Athletics may explain why he stepped down. He signed (probably among others) George Bradley and Tom Miller of the Easton club. <br /><br />Miller is AKA Mullen if you're a Forest and Stream reader, and Dickey Pearche is cleverly disguised as Pearche. I've read a little of the Forest and Stream coverage, and there are a lot of mistakes like this.David Ballnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5985668569918053928.post-36135194217006401082009-05-08T13:31:00.000-05:002009-05-08T13:31:00.000-05:00Without doing any real digging, the facts of Wrigh...Without doing any real digging, the facts of Wright's life from 1868 onward seem right. I have no contemporary evidence for his involvement with baseball or townball in Philadelphia prior to his moving to New York in 1858. <br /><br />That 1878 Athletics club mentioned is an interesting middle stage in the downward spiral of Philadelphia baseball in the late 1870s. Its connection to the old Athletics was tenuous but not patently absurd. It was a decent regional team. They mostly played locally, but traveled to Easton and Washington. Clubs like New Bedford and Utica played them while passing through town. They didn't play any League clubs. From your perspective their most notable player was Charlie Waitt.Richard Hershbergernoreply@blogger.com