Billy Sunday
1862-1935
Famous baseball player / Evangelist
by Rit Nosotro First Published:: 2003( )
Some say Billy Sunday was the "most spectacular evangelist since John the Baptist." 1 Some of his baseball friends simply nicknamed him Parson. However, he is best known as "the baseball evangelist." William Ashley Sunday was born on November 19, 1862 on a farm in Ames, Iowa. His father was a Union soldier who died four months after William (Billy) was born and he never even saw his son. Billy and his brother lived for a while on his grandfather's farm. His mother gave them love and care, but after she divorced her second husband, Billy and his brother, Ed, were sent to an orphanage because of poverty. 2
After a year and a half, that orphanage was closed and Billy and Ed were sent to another one in Davenport, Iowa. It was here that Billy first learned of the Bible and had religious influences. Although he did not accept Christ, he believed in the Bible and had knowledge over the subject.
When Sunday was fifteen, he and Ed went back to live with his grandfather. But Billy never really liked life on a farm, so he went to work at a hotel as a receptionist. He only earned enough for food and a bed. Sunday then became a messenger for Colonel Scott. He was one of the first Americans to run 100 yards in ten seconds. After high school, Billy got a job as a firefighter and earned fame because of his speed. That is when he first began playing baseball.
One day, as Billy was playing in an empty lot, there happened to be a Chicago White Socks scout there who saw Sunday play and contracted him to play for the White Socks. So, in 1833 Billy Sunday began playing professional baseball. In his 8-year career, he stole 92 bases, which was only beaten by Ty Cobb with 96. With his great speed, he was best known for robbing bases. 3
Only four years after playing for the White Socks, Billy was out with his baseball buddies when he heard a chorus of gospel singers in the streets of Chicago singing his mother's favorite song: "Where is My Wandering Boy Tonight?" He was touched and went to the Pacific Garden Mission and became a Christian. Ever since, he refused to play baseball on Sundays, no matter how much his friends pleaded with him. He therefore kept the law, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy," (Exodus 20:8). After playing for Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, five years later, he quit his $500 per month salary as a baseball player for an $84 salary at a ministry position in a YMCA. He was later offered $5,000 per month for playing baseball, but he still rejected it. He was twenty-eight years old and at the peak of his baseball career! He then quit drinking and got married. 4
Sunday was also an evangelist preacher at the same place he accepted Christ, the Pacific Garden Mission. He was saved on the street and saving on the street. He began in small towns, working his way up to the big cities. By 1916, he was at his peak in Detroit. Sunday (and obviously his helpers), passed out huge collection plates - well, more like collection dishpans. They were two feet wide and 10 inches deep, and when they got around, there were $50,000 from a crowd of 50,000 people (and note, this is only one day's collection)! 5
However, eighteen years later, during the Great Depression, in the exact same place, the offering plates came back with only $2,000 and no converts. Sunday was quite wealthy. At times, he made more money in a day than an average worker made in a year. Even then, his family never owned a car. In 1836, Billy died, leaving $50,000 to his two kids.
He had probably preached to over one hundred million people (some repeats, of course), with (sources vary) somewhere between 300,000 and 1,250,000 converts. In 1912, Billy preached at the Wilkes-Barre Crusade and it was reported that over a quarter of the population had been converted to Christianity and that over the course of a year, two hundred taverns had closed because so many people had quit drinking. Brewing companies would unite against him because pubs and bars that went out of business when he was in town. Cities were cleaner and factory workers produced better goods because they came to work sober. Sunday helped to pave the way for prohibition. And still another year later a newspaper read that 83% of the converts from 1912 were currently active in serving Christ! 6
Although Sunday and his wife were devout Christians, their three sons were not. They did everything that Billy preached against like drinking, gambling, etc. The Sundays were even blackmailed by some ladies who threatened to tell the world that Billy's own kids were not Christians. Sadly, there was not really anything Billy and his wife could do about their lost boys. Two years before Billy died, his eldest son, George, committed suicide.
Even with such a family life, Sunday put that aside and when he preached, he paced the floor and shouted out to the people and you could tell he was getting into it. "And the gospel must first be preached to all nations," (Mark 13:10). Billy definitely did exactly that, targeting North America, and through him there were hundreds of thousands of converts. Whatever Billy Sunday's nickname, he has made an amazing impact on society. Endnotes: 1.
up1
NA. "Billy Sunday." 2008 up2
NA. "Famous Ames Residents - Billy Sunday." no date up3
NA. "Billy Sunday." no date up4
Stewart, David. "Billy Sunday! Man of God." no date up5
Baulch,Vivian. "How Billy Sunday battled demon rum in Detroit." 12 Nov. 1997 up6
NA. "Billy Sunday." 2004 Disclaimer:
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