Last week I told you about Chicago Colts President Al Hart’s connection with the proposed rule to change the shape of the diamond. He wasn’t the only baseball pioneer who considered adopting rule changes which would have completely changed the game.
William Henry “Harry” Wright, called by many “The Father of Baseball,” was among the most respected figures of baseball’s first two decades. The Philadelphia Record described his importance:
“Harry Wright has done more than any other man to bring baseball to its present high standing.”
Wright’s story has been told many times and in many places. This lesser known story focuses on two rules changes he championed.
Harry Wright
After the 1893 season Wright’s contract was not renewed as manager of the Philadelphia Phillies he accepted the position of “Chief of Umpires” of the National League. The Philadelphia Record reported on a number of rule changes he advocated, including this:
“Harry Wright thinks that players should not be allowed to question an umpire’s decision during the progress of a game, or to speak to him while the ball is in play, and that he should have the power of taking out of the contest any player (or manager) who breaks the rule.”
While not necessarily a bad idea, if adopted Wright’s idea would have drastically changed the game for several generations of famous umpire baiters.
One other rule change Wright promoted, as reported by The Sporting Life, would certainly have been a bad idea:
“(A)llowing a base runner to run on a fly ball instead of returning and registering at the base.”
While Wright’s idea never was seriously considered for incorporation into the rule book, it had advocates as late as 1899, four years after his death.
Washington Senators Manager Arthur Irwin endorsed the rule with this colorful description:
“Uncertainty is the life of the game, and the more uncertain the uncertainty the higher does the interest key itself…for instance (John) McGraw, one of the most daring base runners in the league Is on first base with two men out, and a run needed to win the game (Wilbert) Robinson follows with a fly to center field, and at the stroke of the bat away scuds Mac. His get-away is the cue that brings the spectators to their feet. ‘Will he score? Can (Joe) Kelley field that ball home to cut him off at the plate?’ Around the runway fly the twinkling feet of the little Napoleon of the Orioles. It’s a chase of life and death between Mac and the ball. Kelley swings the sphere on two bounds to Duke Farrell at the plate. Mac slides into the rubber, and beats the throw by an abbreviated whisker.
“Can you imagine a more intense climax to a game of ball? Why, the game would be full of such play if the idea of running on a fly ball became a rule. It would increase the base running, produce more plays in the field, and keep the outfielders almost as busy as the inner circle, when the bases were occupied.”
Of course Irwin failed to consider the scenario where the winning run is on third base and scores on a routine fly ball with two outs.
Arthur Irwin
Baseball History Daily 
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