Albert Goodwill Spalding
| Albert Goodwill Spalding | |
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| Pitcher | |
| Born: September 2, 1850 Byron , United States 
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| Died on: September 9, 1915 San Diego , United States
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| Suggested: Right | Threw: Right |
| Debut in Major League Baseball | |
| May 5, 1871 with the Boston Red Stockings | |
| Last MLB assignment | |
| August 31, 1878 by the Chicago White Stockings | |
| MLB statistics (until end of career) |
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| Win-loss | 253-65 |
| ERA | 2.14 |
| Batting average | , 313 |
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| Awards | |
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| member of | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame
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| Recorded | 1939 |
| Special selection | Veterans Committee |
Albert Goodwill "AG" Spalding (born September 2, 1850 in Byron , Illinois , † September 9, 1915 in San Diego , California ) was an American baseball player, entrepreneur and manufacturer of sporting goods .
Life
Spalding, of the High School in Rockford (Illinois) without university degree had to leave, began as a teenager as a player of the popular new game baseball and soon became one of the first stars of the sport. He became known for his strong direct pitches , becoming the first pitcher in a major league to win two hundred games. First he played with the Boston Red Stockings in the National Association , the first professional baseball league in the world, and led them to four consecutive championship titles from 1871 to 1875. He then moved in 1876 as a player and manager for the Chicago White Stockings and with these won the first championship title of the newly created National League .
After he ended his active career as a baseball player in 1877, he began his entrepreneurial career as the founder of AG Spalding & Bros. Co. , the leading manufacturer of baseball articles. In the beginning, he paid the National League money to use his game balls so that he could advertise them as the official balls of the National League . His company also published Spalding's Official Baseball Guide , which became the annual, quick-selling must-read for baseball fans.
In 1882 Spalding became president of the Chicago White Stockings , with the team winning the National League league title three times in 1882, 1885 and 1886 during his tenure, which lasted until 1891. As a team owner, he was a ruthless advocate of the so-called "reserve clause," which prevented players from switching between teams as he had as a player. He was also instrumental in ensuring that the National League successfully crushed the Player's League , which had developed from the first players' union . Most recently, he financed a world tour for his team between the 1888 and 1889 seasons, on which the Chicago White Stockings played against mixed teams from leading leagues in Australia , Egypt , Italy , France , England and Ireland .
Even before the office of baseball commissioner was established, Spalding was one of the most respected figures in the sport in 1907 and appointed an advisory body to deal with the claim made by Henry Chadwick , "the father of baseball," that baseball was an English sport Cricket and Rounders would have arisen. Spalding wanted that baseball would be seen as "only American", and actually advisory panel concluded that baseball primarily by Abner Doubleday in 1839 in Cooperstown was invented, the city in which a hundred years later, the Baseball Hall of Fame founded has been. In fact, baseball evolved from cricket, which Spalding should have known, since he toured England in 1874, where they played both baseball and cricket in cities like Liverpool , London and Manchester .
In 1911 he wrote America's National Game , a story of the early years of baseball, which, however, exaggerated its role. After the founding of the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, he was one of the first to be inducted into it.
The sporting goods company he founded was taken over in 2003 by Russell Corporation , which in turn belongs to Berkshire Hathaway .
His nephew was the American violin virtuoso and composer Albert Spalding .
Web links
- Player information and statistics from Baseball Reference or Baseball Reference (Minor League) (English)
- Albert Goodwill Spalding in nndb (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Spalding, Albert Goodwill |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Spalding, AG (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American baseball player and entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 2, 1850 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Byron , Illinois |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 9, 1915 |
| Place of death | San Diego , California |