Difference between revisions of "Billy Sunday"
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By 1914, he was a national celebrity, conducting multi-day campaigns in big cities which attracted tens of thousands of people. He fiercely opposed alcohol: | By 1914, he was a national celebrity, conducting multi-day campaigns in big cities which attracted tens of thousands of people. He fiercely opposed alcohol: | ||
:Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell.... The saloon is the sum of all villainies. It is worse than war or pestilence. It is the crime of crimes. It is parent of crimes and the mother of sins. It is the appalling source of misery and crime in the land and the principal cause of crime. It is the source of three-fourths of the taxes to support that crime. And to license such an incarnate fiend of hell is the dirtiest, low-down, damnable business on top of this old earth.<ref>[http://billysunday.org/sermons/booze.html Famous 'Booze Sermon'], billysunday.org</ref> | :Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell.... The saloon is the sum of all villainies. It is worse than war or pestilence. It is the crime of crimes. It is parent of crimes and the mother of sins. It is the appalling source of misery and crime in the land and the principal cause of crime. It is the source of three-fourths of the taxes to support that crime. And to license such an incarnate fiend of hell is the dirtiest, low-down, damnable business on top of this old earth.<ref>[http://billysunday.org/sermons/booze.html Famous 'Booze Sermon'], billysunday.org</ref> | ||
| + | Gale's ''American Decades'' says that by 1920 he was the best-known evangelist in America. He was also financially successful. It was his practice to keep the proceeds of the last day of his campaign. In 1914, the last day of his eight-week campaign in Philadelphia yielded $35,000<ref>"Billy Sunday Gets $35,000. Revivalist's Share of Pittsburgh Receipts a Free-Will Offering." ''The New York Times,'' February 23, 1914, p. 16</ref> (equivalent to over $600,000 in 2006 dollars<ref>[http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ The Inflation Calculator]</ref>. In 1920 Dun and Bradstreet estimated his worth at $1.4 million ($16 million today). | ||
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| + | Unabashedly uneducated, speaking in the plain speech of the masses, Sunday fascinated the liberal intelligentsia of the time and became a target of their mockery. [[Sinclair Lewis]]' novel [[Babbitt]] includes a character named Mike Monday, "the | ||
| + | distinguished evangelist, the best-known Protestant pontiff in America.... As a prize-fighter he gained nothing but his crooked nose, his celebrated vocabulary, and his stage-presence. The service of the Lord had been more profitable." | ||
==Notes and references== | ==Notes and references== | ||
<references/> | <references/> | ||
Revision as of 00:04, June 13, 2007
Billy Sunday (full name: William Ashley Sunday) (1862-1935) was a famous baseball player who became an even more famous revivalist minister. He set baseball records by rounding the bases in fourteen seconds, and in 1891 set a record by stealing 90 bases in 116 games. In that year, Philadelphia Phillies offered Sunday $400/month, but he turned them down to accept an $83/month job as "Secretary of the Religious Department" at a YMCA. He hosted his first revival meeting in Iowa in 1897 and became an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1903.[1]
By 1914, he was a national celebrity, conducting multi-day campaigns in big cities which attracted tens of thousands of people. He fiercely opposed alcohol:
- Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell.... The saloon is the sum of all villainies. It is worse than war or pestilence. It is the crime of crimes. It is parent of crimes and the mother of sins. It is the appalling source of misery and crime in the land and the principal cause of crime. It is the source of three-fourths of the taxes to support that crime. And to license such an incarnate fiend of hell is the dirtiest, low-down, damnable business on top of this old earth.[2]
Gale's American Decades says that by 1920 he was the best-known evangelist in America. He was also financially successful. It was his practice to keep the proceeds of the last day of his campaign. In 1914, the last day of his eight-week campaign in Philadelphia yielded $35,000[3] (equivalent to over $600,000 in 2006 dollars[4]. In 1920 Dun and Bradstreet estimated his worth at $1.4 million ($16 million today).
Unabashedly uneducated, speaking in the plain speech of the masses, Sunday fascinated the liberal intelligentsia of the time and became a target of their mockery. Sinclair Lewis' novel Babbitt includes a character named Mike Monday, "the distinguished evangelist, the best-known Protestant pontiff in America.... As a prize-fighter he gained nothing but his crooked nose, his celebrated vocabulary, and his stage-presence. The service of the Lord had been more profitable."
Notes and references
- ↑ Billy Sunday Remembered: ran bases in 14 seconds. Billy Sunday timeline: birth-death dates, base-stealing, turned down Phillies for YMCA, first revival meeting in 1897, ordained 1903.
- ↑ Famous 'Booze Sermon', billysunday.org
- ↑ "Billy Sunday Gets $35,000. Revivalist's Share of Pittsburgh Receipts a Free-Will Offering." The New York Times, February 23, 1914, p. 16
- ↑ The Inflation Calculator