Spalding, A.G.

▪ American athlete and manufacturer

byname  Al Spalding,  in full  Albert Goodwill Spalding  

born Sept. 2, 1850, Byron, Ill., U.S.

died Sept. 9, 1915, Point Loma, Calif.

      American professional baseball player and sporting-goods manufacturer, who contributed to the development of professional baseball and manufactured gear for many sports played in his day.

      In his youth Spalding pitched and batted right-handed with such authority that the Forest City (Rockford, Ill.) team became well known. He pitched for the Boston Red Stockings in the National Association (1871–75) and pitched for and managed the Chicago National League Club, the White Stockings (1876–77). In 1876 he and his brother James founded in Chicopee, Mass., the sporting-goods manufacturing company that later became known as A.G. Spalding and Brothers. He remained with the Chicago club after his playing days as president (1882–91) and was a practical organizer in baseball until business took up most of his time in the 1890s. Spalding organized baseball tours abroad (to England and Ireland in 1874, around the world in 1889) and became an official ambassador of goodwill for baseball.

      Spalding's Official Baseball Guide—begun in 1878 and issued annually after 1880 until the 1940s, when it was amalgamated with official major-league guides—was a sort of unofficial baseball guide. Spalding also wrote a history of baseball, America's National Game (1911), and he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.

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