Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-14
SPEED, NOT BATTING,
MADE BILLY SUNDAY
GREAT BALL PLAYER
Evangelist of Today Kept
Old-time Pitchers Guess
ing, But Was Never
Known as a Slugger.

There IA contrast between the Billy"
Sunday that hits so hard in the taber-
nncle pulpit and the "Blly" Sunday that
faced the National League pitchers as a
member Of the Chicago White Sox. the
PittsburEh Pirates and the Phillies back
IN the SUs ana In lSA. BILLY batting
average has increased, and instead Of
beating out inield singles. the evangelist
IL now hitting so hard that his drives
take him right home.
When BILLY" goes into the pulpit to
take his hit at the sins OF the sinners one
can see him pull up his shoulders and
push out his elbows like the graceful
neet-footed batsman VINO steps into the
box to hit the ball The crowds in the
tabtrnac.e, Just like the crowds that
used to fll the grandstand at the phIllies'
grounds, hardly know Just what to eX-
poet from" Billy" when he steps into the
piAy.
HIT HARD At TIMES
"Ellly" kept the old-time pitchers guess
ing There were times when he hit the
ball hard, and there were times when
he lsid down little bunts and beat them
out His speed as a runner was one OF
his biggest assets as batsman Hut
with 1t all he never. shone as much as a
batsman as he does as an evanEe list.
sam Thompson, OF the Philies, Gov
ernor Tener, who then played with the
Chicago team; old Pop Ansun, Ed Della
hanty and Connie Mack, as well as other
stars of their day. led Sunday at the
bat "Billy's" best year al the bat was
lasL Before that time and even in that
year Billy could hardly be considered a
regular player on his team. In fact, in
all the years that he played ball he was
generally behind the other players in the
number of games played
His absence from the game on Orto-
Der ., 1889, cost him a chance to decide
q championship. even though he was ON
second division team, The New York
and the Boston teams were running a
neck-to-neck race for the pennant that
year Two points separated them The
last games were to be played that day.
New York was to play Cleveland. and
Boston was scheduled to play Pittsburgh.
Sunday was playing in the outfieid for
the Pittsburgh team, but for some reason
he did not play. The Pittsburgh team
beat Boston by the score OF to 1, and
New York won the pennant. So "Billy'
lost his chance to receive credit for help
Ing to win championship for New York.
HIGH WATER MARK IN 1887,
IN 1857. out Of season OF more than
100 games, Sunday played in As and had
baLt,ng average of .35g This was his
high-water mark, and the careful rec
ords that were kept by Sporting Life for
those years do not show him in the 800
class again.
ct there were times when Sunday was
terror with the bat. In the early part
OF the season of 1889 the box scores show
that he was hitting the ban hard Two
home runs, three-bagger and double
were his record for extra base hits in a
single week But after that he settled
down to a fairly steady hitter of scratch
singles, with an occasional extra base
hit mixed in, and finished the season
with an average of .239, which was hardly
enough to be considered good hitting for
an outielder. when Brouthers, of tha
Boston team, led the league with an
average of .37S
BILLY" had a better record In 1890, the
l9st year he played the game, and was
II equently spoken of as the leader of his
team at bat in the newspaper reports Of
the individual games. In the series he
tween the Phllies and Pittsburgh in
June OF that year, BILLY" stepped into a
fast pitched ball and was on the hospital
list for several days In the PUBLIC
LEDGER OF June a. 1890 there is the fol-
lowing account OF the accident:
The only incident to mar the game
wasan accident to Centre Fielder Sunday
that may result in Keeping that popular
player Off the field for a week or two
WINE at pat IN the third inning he was
struck on the shoulder by swiftly
pitched bah and was compelled to re-
tire"
SOME COSTLY ERRORS.
'''rhe Phillies. lost the second game"
The writer says. but errors by Larpque
and Sunday gave them five runs in the
nrst inning"
AS this comment might suggest.
Billy sometimes made costly errors,
but, In the evangelist's own words, that Is
the subject OF another sermon.
Billy" was hitting well Just before the
Accident. On June 81, 1.-THE best hitting
was done by Sunday, who. out OF five
times at bat, cracked out two singles and
\ double" That must be considered high
praise when one considers that he was
batting with such men as Ed Della
hanty, Sam" Thompson, Billy Hamll-
ton and the rest OF the old-time Philly
outfit
After his accident Sunday again hit
well, and when he was transferred to the
Phillies later in the season he hit con-
sistently and was often seen in the box
score among the heavy hitters. The
Phillies were anxious TO get Sunday for
their team.
They had the championship bee In their
oonnets strong. and they wanted Sunday
10 help them out BILLY" was a valuable
man 10 the team despite his light hitting.
and when he once got on the bases his
speed made him one of the most danger
BUS base runners in the game. His hat
ling average that year was .265 hut he
oase stealer was second only to Billy
"a n arg4fl ha 1aft