Glenn Wright
| Glenn Wright | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Shortstop | |||
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Born: February 6, 1901 Archie, Missouri | |||
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Died: April 6, 1984 (aged 83) Olathe, Kansas | |||
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 15, 1924, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| June 4, 1935, for the Chicago White Sox | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .294 | ||
| Home runs | 94 | ||
| Runs batted in | 723 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Forest Glenn "Buckshot" Wright (February 6, 1901 – April 6, 1984), was a professional baseball player. He played all or part of eleven seasons in Major League Baseball between 1924 and 1935, primarily as a shortstop. Wright played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Chicago White Sox.
Career
Wright was a standout minor league player for the Independence Producers in 1921, and for the Kansas City Blues in 1922-23. In his major league rookie year, he set the record for most assists (601) in a season which stood for 56 years (until broken by Ozzie Smith in 1980). On May 7, 1925, he recorded an unassisted triple play against the Cardinals, tagging out Jimmy Cooney and future Hall of Famers Jim Bottomley and Rogers Hornsby. That same year he came in 4th in NL MVP voting behind Hornsby, Kiki Cuyler, and George Kelly. He was a member of the 1925 World Series champion Pittsburgh Pirates, homering off Hall of Fame spitballer Stan Coveleski in Game Two.
In 1927, Wright and the Pirates returned to the World Series but were swept in four straight games by the New York Yankees. In eleven career World Series games, Wright had only seven hits in 40 at-bats.
Wright was traded to the Brooklyn Robins in 1928 and named team captain the following season. His tenure in Brooklyn coincided with the name change from Brooklyn Robins to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932. Considered a premier shortstop of his generation, Wright suffered a major injury to his shoulder in 1929 which plagued him from then on and contributed to his relatively short career.
Despite his injury, Wright put up exceptional numbers in 1930, reaching career highs in batting average (.321), runs batted in (126), and slugging (.543).
He was released by the Dodgers after the 1933 season and rejoined the Blues for a season. In 1935, he was purchased from Kansas City by the White Sox, but was let go after hitting .120 in nine games. He continued to play in the minor leagues until 1939, mostly with the Wenatchee Chiefs of the International League, before retiring.
Wright finished his career with 1219 hits, 94 home runs, 723 runs batted in and a batting average of .294 over 11 seasons (4153 at bats). He spent the years after his playing days ended as a scout working for the Boston Red Sox until his retirement in 1974.
Sources
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- 1923 Kansas City Blues
- SABR interview with Glenn Wright