The MPS-1 wiring diagram shows the positive lead from the ESC going to the negative lead on the motor, and the negative lead from the ESC going to the positive lead of the motor.
Is this a mistake? I am setting up a normal motor configuration (not a pusher).

From : Don Stackhouse

That's not a mistake. Yes, for a tractor installation, you should run the positive lead from the Electonic Speed Control ("ESC") to the negative terminal of the motor (the one marked with a dot). The negative lead from the ESC should go to the motor terminal marked with a plus (+) sign.

This is a generic motor frame, made by the billions and used with a wide variety of different armatures for an immense list of different industrial and consumer product applications. The quantities used in almost any one of these applications could easily dwarf the total of the model-aviation-related applications for this motor. The markings on the case are generic, and correspond to what would be for us a direct-drive tractor prop installation, which just happens to be the same as the typical standard for rotation for an electric motor in most industrial applications. Our application doesn't even begin to approach the quantities that would justify the cost of a custom end bell for the motor with custom markings, or an armature with reversed wiring. We have to take what's already available.

When we put this motor in a single-stage gearbox, the gears reverse the direction of rotation of the prop shaft. This means that the motor now has to be wired with reverse polarity to get a conventional right-handed prop to turn in the correct direction. Fortunately this motor is neutral-timed, so it runs equally well backwards or forwards.

If you were installing this in a pusher, you would wire it as marked, with the positive from the ESC soldered to the plus terminal on the motor.

The bottom line is that whatever type of installation you have, tractor or pusher, the prop should blow air aft when you open the throttle. Use whatever wiring makes that happen.

The only other thing to watch is the airfoils on the prop. The molded-in writing on the propeller blades should face aft, and the smooth side of the blades should face forward.

Don Stackhouse
DJ Aerotech