The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

JACKIE Wright, one of the country’s former minor league professional baseball players, passed away on Saturday after a long battle with cancer.

He was 64.

Wright, who played in the Boston Red Sox organisation, left behind his wife Lynn and two daughters, Tarah and Tenova.

Wright also leaves behind seven brothers Keith, Kendal, Robert, Edward, Colin, Christopher and Mervin and six sisters Bridgette Wright-Williams, Kimberley Wright-Thurston, Linda Wright-Smith, Nita Wright-Ramsey, Buena and Susan Wright-Cargill.

Wright, who grew up in the Sunshine Park area, attended Highbury High, now RM Bailey Secondary High School, and played with the Paradise Casino baseball team before he left to play third base in the Red Sox farm system for three years from 1978 to 1980. He reached as high as Double A in 1980 where he played in 54 games with a batting average of .184. In total, Wright played in 273 games with a .247 average and two home runs.

On his return home, Wright gained employment at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation, now known as Bahamas Power and Light. At the same time, he played mainly softball with the T-Bird Flyers and then the Budweiser Eagles.

“I knew him personally from playing baseball,” said Flyers’ long-time manager Godfrey ‘Gully’ Burnside. “He joined T-Bird in the 1980s and played shortstop for us for about 2-3 years before he joined Budweiser.

“He always tried to help some of the young men on the team. He was a strong, determined young man. We had a great relationship. Whenever he had any problems with the team, we were able to discuss it and resolve it for the most part.”

Wright later assisted the late Vince Ferguson in the formation of the Association of Former and Present Professional Baseball Players of the Bahamas and he provided some of his expertise as a coach in the Junior Baseball League of Nassau.

Former sports writer Tommy Stubbs, who began junior league baseball in Nassau in the middle 1970s in the Bahamas Baseball Association, along with Kendal Wright as teammates on Killarney Pros, sponsored by the late Cardwell Armbrister, said the deceased was an excellent infielder.

“From those days, one could tell Jackie would become a professional player,” Stubbs said. “He possessed all of the athletic tools. He could hit to all fields, had good speed, base running skills and his fielding at shortstop was outstanding.

“Nobody wanted to catch balls thrown from him. He had a great, accurate arm. He was always a team leader. He demanded more from his teammates.”

Stubbs, now the president of the New Providence Oldtimers Softball Association, said Wright was always a fierce competitor and didn’t accept losing as an option too well, whether it was in baseball or softball before and after his pro days.

“Jackie never talked much of his pro baseball experience, but one could tell he didn’t think the MLB system was fair to him in the 1970-80s,” Stubbs recalled.

“I knew Jackie was contributing to youth baseball at JBLN for over a decade where I had served as a coach before his time there. Few Bahamian pro players seldom come back home to assist our youth.”

On his return home, Stubbs said Wright wanted to help youth baseball, but he expressed that most people took his efforts for granted, especially after he was diagnosed three years ago with cancer that started in his feet and moved to his brain.

“He wished his many sports teammates would check in on him. He thanked parents of players at JBLN for their support,” Stubbs said.

Having been out of direct touch with Wright for over five years, Stubbs said he knew he was battling cancer, but thought he was getting better.

“Kelson Armbrister called to say Jackie wanted to speak to me. Kelson died less than four weeks later,” Stubbs said. “Jackie died angry that doctors wanted $30,000 to simply start radiation treatment for his brain tumour.

“He said he didn’t want brain surgery which could be more debilitating or deadly. Over the years, he exhausted all his savings from his employment at BEC/BPL and appreciated the assistance by Kendal.”