Spalding, Alber G.
Baseball
b. Sept. 2, 1850, Byron, IL
d. Sept. 9, 1915
By the time he was sixteen, Spalding was pitching for a semi-pro team, the Rockford, IL, Forest City club. In 1867, he beat the touring Washington Nationals, led by George Wright, and was offered $40 a week to clerk in a Chicago grocery store and play for its baseball team. However, the store went out of business and Spalding returned home and began playing for Forest City again.
The team went on an eastern tour in 1870, compiling a 13-3-1 record. The National Association, the first major league, was organized the following year and Spalding joined its Boston team, managed by Harry Wright, George's brother.
Spalding had records of 19-10, 38-8, 41-14, 52-16, and 55-5 in five seasons with Boston, leading the association in victories each year. The National League replaced the association in 1876 and Spalding joined its Chicago franchise.
He and his brother Walter opened a sporting goods store in Chicago that year. Spalding had a 47-12 record, leading the NL in victories, in his only full season. He retired from playing after appearing in just 4 games in 1877 to devote full time to the business.
The company soon became the largest of its kind. Spalding bought interests in A. J. Reach and Company, a baseball manufacturer, and Wright and Ditson, a manufacturer of tennis balls and other equipment, and his company also branched out into publishing, producing the annual Spalding Guide and pamphlets on many sports.
Beginning in the fall of 1888, Spalding took a group of twenty major-league players on a world tour, introducing baseball to New Zealand, Australia, Ceylon, Egypt, Italy, France, and England. While on the tour, Spalding opened a branch in London and arranged to import bicycles and golf clubs.
Spalding had continued as an advisor to the Chicago NL team and he was its president from 1882 to 1891. He also founded the Chicago Athletic Club and in 1903 he helped to negotiate the peace agreement between the National and American Leagues.