The Preaching Athlete: Baseball Player Billy Sunday

Billy Sunday (1862 - 1935) has a unique place in American history. He was born into poverty and lived in orphanages as a youth before being discovered as a great baseball player. After an eight year career in the early major leagues, Sunday converted to Christianity and became one of America's most popular preachers. In fact, he may have preached the gospel to more people than anyone had before in history.

Billy Sunday was born in Ames, Iowa in 1862. His father had been a Union soldier who died of disease when Billy was a newborn. His mother raised him by herself until Billy was ten years old. At that point, she had to send Billy and his brother to live in an orphanage because she could no longer afford to care for the children. Billy lives in the "Soldiers' Orphans Home" until he moved to Marshalltown, Iowa in 1880. There he began playing for the fire brigade's baseball team before he was discovered in 1883 and signed by A.G. Spalding to the Chicago White Stockings.

Sunday began as a part-time player and sometimes struggled with injury, was it was not until 1888 that he was able to play a full season. Sunday was a popular baseball player. Though he was only an average hitter, he had exception speed which allowed him to steal bases, or at least threaten to steal basis. For the next several years, he also played outfield for other teams including Pittsburgh Alleghenys, Philadelphia Phillies.