Harry Wright

Harry Wright (1835-1895) was an English-born American baseball player and manager credited as one of the central figures in transforming baseball from an amateur pastime into a professional sport. In 1869 he organized and managed the Cincinnati Red Stockings as the first openly all-salaried professional baseball team, leading them through a widely publicized undefeated season that demonstrated the commercial viability of paid baseball to cities across the country. He went on to manage teams in the new professional leagues that followed, including the National Association and the National League, compiling one of the winningest managerial records of the sport's first decades while also promoting rule innovations such as backing up defensive plays and coaching from the baselines. He is often called the "Father of Professional Baseball."