wise played semi-pro baseball in 1880 and 1881 for an akron team organized by charlie morton, where his teammates included future major-league stars such as bid mcphee and tony mullane. he played in a single nl game for the 1881 detroit wolverines. in 1882, wise ended up signing with both the nl's boston red caps and the american association's cincinnati red stockings. when the red stockings unsuccessfully sued the red caps, it marked the first american court case involving professional baseball.