William Ashley Sunday, better known as Billy Sunday, was born on this day 150 years ago in Iowa. His father died five weeks later, so the family moved in with his mother’s parents. When he was ten he was sent to the Soldier’s Orphan’s Home where he was educated and became good at sports. After playing for the town baseball team before being recruited as a professional baseball player for the Chicago White Stockings. He subsequently played for the Pittsburgh Alleghenys and the Philadelphia Phillies.
One Sunday afternoon in Chicago during 1886 or 1887, Billy and some of his team stopped to listen to a gospel preaching team. He started attending the Pacific Garden Mission, and after a while he became a Christian. He gave up drinking, swearing and gambling, and started speaking in churches and at YMCAs. In 1891 he began work as assistant secretary at the Chicago YMCA, and two years later he became the full time assistant of J Wilbur Chapman, a prominent evangelist.
In 1896 Billy Sunday started his own evangelistic meetings, taking advantage of his reputation as a baseball player, and when the crowds were too large for local halls he hired canvas tents. His wife Nell became the administrator of his campaigns, and during the course of his career he preached to around 100 million people, being the most famous evangelist in the US during the early part of the 20th century.