He played baseball for the high school team in Gibson County.

Wright first came into prominence due to receiving the nickname "Wild Bill" because of his problem with control, as he hurt his arm throwing too hard while trying to pitch in cold weather.

He started with the Nashville Elite Giants and prevailed as a switch-hitter with a considerable frame at 6'4 and 220 pounds, and he later earned the nickname of being the "Black DiMaggio" [2] The team (who had moved to Cleveland for 1931) would end their second tenure in Nashville in 1934 in favor of Columbus in 1935 and Washington for 1936–37 before settling in Baltimore for 1938, and Wright would play for the team in each of its incarnations that generally competed well with the other teams in the league (the one title Wright was a part of was the 1939 season, in which the Negro National League held a playoff between the four best teams that resulted in Baltimore winning the championship cup).

[citation needed] From his retirement until his death, Wright lived in Aguascalientes City where he owned a hamburger restaurant, deciding to reside in the country permanently in 1958 and not returning to the United States until a Negro Leagues reunion 32 years later.

He was inducted into the Salón de la Fama del Beisbol Profesional de México (Mexico's Baseball Hall of Fame) in 1982 and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.