Evening star., 1935-11-08
BY HUGH FULLERTON, Sr.
\ YEW YORK, November 8.-Billy
NJ Sunday is gone. A few
" months ago I talked with him

1IlS W Ue iilG AiOilic -dllo 1iOW eAiC
most colorful base ball player of his
era has scored.
Never through his long career as
an evangelist and leader of men did
Billy forget base ball. or forget those
he knew when in the game, and 1
think he rejoiCed more when some old
ball player came forward along the
sawdust trail than over any others.
Every time We met he always asked
about the old timers and their Ca
reers, especially those who were the
most reckless and daredevil of the old
crew.
never knew Billy Sunday when he
was at the height of his fame at Chi
cago, but I watched him during the
final days of his National League ca
reer with the Philadelphia club. Con-
trary to general belief, Sunday was
not great player-at least in the es-
timation of the veterans of Anson's
famous old Chicago White Stockings.
His chief asset was speed, and, with
the possible exception of Tom Browne,
he was the fastest ball player who
ever wore major league uniform.
Speedy as he was, he was slow in
going to first base because, according
to his fellow players, he dropped back
after hitting a ball and made a slow
start, so that he passed over first base
running at 10-second clip, after he
had been thrown out. But, after start
ing on the circuit of the bases, he
possessed terrific speed, could turn the
bases without much loss of distance
and could run them from a standing
start in about IA seconds.
Played With Wild Crowd.
GUNDAY broke into the Chicago Ma
- tional League club straight from
q semi-pro club at Marshalltown,
Iowa. The players of Anson's old
team always declared that Sunday
never would have become a major
league player but for the fact that
Anson's home town was Marshalltown
and Anson thought everyone from
that town was a great player.
The White Stockings Of that day
Kelly, Williamson, Crane, Flint, Ryan,
Kittridge, Burns, ClarkSon-were
wild bunch. Most of them heavy
drinkers and what we called dis
turbers." Fellows who were in base
nall more for fun than for salary.
Sunday, as a boy, went into that
crowd Of drinkers and sports and, for
a time, tried to hold the pace with
them. He drank, but, according to
the fellows, Billy never was much of
@ drinker, at least by their standards.
One evening he was downtown in
Chicago with Pfeffer, Williamson and
several others. They had dinner and
drinks. and Sunday, a trifle befuddled,
left the crowd and wandered south.
He landed in a revival service in the
old Pacific Mission on Van Buren
street, sat in rear seat for a time,
and then, suddenly, and to his in
tense surprise, was converted. He
went forward and declared his inten-
ton of living a Christian life.
Billy often told me that the hardest
thing in his life was to face the gang
in the clubhouse and announce his
conversion. He feared their laughter
more than anything in the world He
said he was perSpiring with nervous
ness when he entered the clubhouse
and the first thing that happened was
that Kelly, the widest, jolliest, most
reckless of the crew, threw his arms
around him and said: Stick to it,
boy" And one after another the
players came forward to shake hands
and urge him to stand firm.
Improves as Player.
RTLLY went from Chicago to Pitts
burgh, where he developed into
a capable outfielder, better than he
had been in Chicago. He was sold
to Pittsburgh, because, think, he re-
fused to play ball on Sunday and
Pittsburgh had no Sunday base ball.
He never was a good hitter, although,
in one season when a base on balls
counted as base hit, he was credited
with hitting better than 300.
From Pittsburgh he went to Phila-
delphia. but the call for evangelistic
work was so strCng he decided to be-
come minister and started studying.
He got position with the Y. M. c. A.
in Chicago, where I first came to know
him we'll He seldom lost a chance
to foregather with the veterans of
Anson's team, and was welcome visi-
tor at the club house, where he en-
tered into the rough repartee with
the oldtimers.
His weak hitting always was a
subject of joking. Years later, while
he was holding one of his great re-
vival meetings at Homestead, Pa, the
Chicago team was playing in Pitts
burgh. Billy came to the hotel and
invited the entire gang out to attend
a meeting, and announced White
Stocking service. He reserved seats
for the gang and all Of us, Catholic,
Protestant and what have you, at
tended and sat in front reserved seats.
Kidded In Pulpit.
I WAS sitting next to Jimmy Ryan, an
= inveterate kidder. Sunday had the
pulpit fixed so that one bat-shaped
slat was loose. At the proper stage
Billy. having worked himself and his
audience to a high pitch, suddenly
tore the slat loose, posed in batting
position, and shouted his intention of
making a three-base hit of the devil.
go to it, Bill" Ryan shouted. You
never could do it with U.S."
Sundays interest in base ball con-
tinued to the end. A short time ago
he was called to Columbus to conduct
g. service. He was too Ill to permit
many visitors, SO I called on the tele-
phone to greet him. and he demanded
that come down and tell him about
some of the old boys, especially Fritz
Pfeffer, who had died.
He must have kept close track Of
his old friends, for every month or
two I'd receive a letter, scolding or
praising something I had written
about base ball. He had list Of base
ball players who had come to him and
been converted, and these he loved
almost as much as he did the reckless
ones he tried to save.
Now Billy has left the sawduSt trail
Tor the golden one, and base ball has