Some context: Albert Goodwill Spalding (September 2, 1849 - September 9, 1915) was an American pitcher, manager and executive in the early years of professional baseball, and the co-founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods company. He was born and raised in Byron, Illinois. He played major league baseball between 1871 and 1878. Spalding set a trend when he started wearing a baseball glove, and eventually opened his sporting goods store.
Having played baseball throughout his youth, Spalding first played competitively with the Rockford Pioneers, a youth team, which he joined in 1865. After pitching his team to a 26-2 victory over a local men's amateur team (the Mercantiles), he was approached at the age of 15 by another squad, the Forest Citys, for whom he played for two years. In the autumn of 1867 he accepted a $40 per week contract ($700 in today's dollars), nominally as a clerk, but really to play professionally for the Chicago Excelsiors, not an uncommon arrangement used to circumvent the rules of the time, which forbade the hiring of professional players. Following the formation of baseball's first professional organization, the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (which became known as the National Association, the Association, or NA) in 1871, Spalding joined the Boston Red Stockings (precursor club to the modern Atlanta Braves) and was highly successful; winning 206 games (and losing only 53) as a pitcher and batting .323 as a hitter. William Hulbert, principal owner of the Chicago White Stockings, did not like the loose organization of the National Association and the gambling element that influenced it, so he decided to create a new organization, which he dubbed the National League of Baseball Clubs. To aid him in this venture, Hulbert enlisted the help of Spalding. Playing to the pitcher's desire to return to his Midwestern roots and challenging Spalding's integrity, Hulbert convinced Spalding to sign a contract to play for the White Stockings (now known as the Chicago Cubs) in 1876. Spalding then coaxed teammates Deacon White, Ross Barnes and Cal McVey, as well as Philadelphia Athletics players Cap Anson and Bob Addy, to sign with Chicago. This was all done under complete secrecy during the playing season because players were all free agents in those days and they did not want their current club and especially the fans to know they were leaving to play elsewhere the next year. News of the signings by the Boston and Philadelphia players leaked to the press before the season ended and all of them faced verbal abuse and physical threats from the fans of those cities. He was "the premier pitcher of the 1870s", leading the league in victories for each of his six full seasons as a professional. During each of those years he was his team's only pitcher. In 1876, Spalding won 47 games as the prime pitcher for the White Stockings and led them to win the first-ever National League pennant by a wide margin. In 1877, Spalding began to use a glove to protect his catching hand. People had used gloves previously, but they were not popular, and Spalding himself was skeptical of wearing one at first. However, once he began donning gloves, he influenced other players to do so. Spalding retired from playing baseball in 1878 at the age of 27, although he continued as president and part owner of the White Stockings and a major influence on the National League. Spalding's .796 career winning percentage (from an era when teams played about once or twice a week) is the highest ever by a baseball pitcher, far exceeding the second-best .690.
What type of pitching style did he have?
A: premier pitcher
Some context: The Osmonds are an American family music group with a long and varied career. The Osmond Brothers began as a barbershop quartet consisting of brothers Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay Osmond. They were later joined by younger siblings Donny and Jimmy, both of whom enjoyed success as solo artists as well. With the addition of Donny, the group became known as The Osmonds, and enjoyed its greatest success as both a boy band and a hard rock ensemble.
By 1976, though, the group's record sales were softening; Osmondmania had long faded and been replaced by "Rollermania", as the Bay City Rollers became the hot pop band of choice in the mid-1970s. Their 1975 album The Proud One sold poorly (despite the title track providing a chart-topping easy listening hit and the group's last U.S. top-40 hit to date), and MGM Records was sold to Polydor Records. Their first album under Polydor was the album Brainstorm; that album sold only slightly better than its predecessor, and its lead single, "I Can't Live a Dream," fell short of the top 40. Polydor would release two more albums from the family (a Christmas album that included all of the performing family members, and a greatest hits compilation). The Osmonds poured themselves into a new venture: the older brothers began producing The Donny & Marie Show which was a hit on ABC from 1976-1979. But the success came at a cost. The family built and operated at great expense a first-class television studio in Orem, Utah, where the show was produced beginning in 1977. As a result, the Osmonds as a performing band became a lower priority to Donny and Marie. The older brothers deferred or gave up their dreams of being a rock-and-roll band. Donny experienced stage anxiety and Marie had a brief bout with an eating disorder after a network executive told her she looked heavy. When the show was cancelled in 1979, the Osmonds were taken by surprise, as they had believed that the show would be renewed, and found themselves in debt and without a clear direction. The group left Polydor and attempted another album for Mercury Records, Steppin' Out, which was a major failure with neither the album nor any of its singles charting anywhere; it would be their only album on that label. Steppin' Out was a transitional album for the Osmonds and was produced under the auspices of Maurice Gibb; among its tracks was the first recorded version of "Rest Your Love on Me," a country song that would become a hit for Gibb's own band, the Bee Gees, and topped the country charts in a cover version by Conway Twitty. They produced two unsuccessful projects for Marie, a sitcom pilot that never aired and a variety show revival that lasted seven episodes in 1980 and 1981. They recovered and eventually paid their debts and re-established their careers. Rather than go into bankruptcy, they resolved to honor all of their financial obligations. But the Osmond artists and enterprises began operating separately.
Why were there issues?
A:
Donny experienced stage anxiety and Marie had a brief bout with an eating disorder