SUNDAY ANY DAY: PREACHING FROM THE CHURCH OF BASEBALL

Billy Sunday mixed baseball and the Bible in a way that attracted crowds every time he spoke.

Nearly 1,000 people came to meet his train when the plain-speaking evangelist arrived in Cape Gir-ardeau Feb. 27, 1926, for a five-week stint. Thousands more, sometimes as many as 5,000 per night, would pack into the tabernacle at Bellevue and Middle streets to hear Sunday preach.

Others stood outside when there wasn't room indoors. The tabernacle cost the city $6,000 to build and included wooden benches, a hospital room, a lost-and-found, a library and a nursery.

When ministers in Cape Girardeau invited Sunday to visit, it wasn't just for the religious community to benefit, though as many as 1,100 people joined the community's churches. Restaurants and businesses boomed with visitors who had come to hear Sunday preach.

"He was a tourist attraction," said Dr. John Coleman, a history professor at Southeast Missouri State University. People traveled from surrounding communities to hear the preacher, one man from Marble Hill, Mo., was supposed to have counted every step he made on his walk to Cape Girardeau.

Who was he?

Billy Sunday was born in a poor Iowa cabin and spent part of his youth in an orphanage. He played baseball for the Chicago White Stockings and other teams from 1883 to 1890.

Sunday was saved in 1888 and began preaching at the YMCA while recovering from a baseball injury. And his love of sports often overlapped with his love of the Gospel.

"He was famous for his physical act on stage," Coleman said. "He would slide across the stage as if he was sliding into home."

Mildred Carmack remembers attending the revival meetings with her family. "There was sawdust on the floors and we sat on benches," she said. "We went to every meeting but one."

Carmack now lives at Chateau Girardeau, but recalls that nearly everyone in her neighborhood attended the meetings. "We looked forward to going," she said.

It was somewhat of a show, with Sunday picking up chairs or acting dramatic to get across a point.

"He came across to a lot of people who were baptized from that meeting," she said.

Carmack was one of them, as a child she came forward and was later baptized at First Baptist Church, where she is still a member.

While thousands came to hear Sunday, Carmack isn't sure that any evangelist today would draw such a crowd. "People are a lot different now," she said.

Billy Graham of his day

Billy Sunday is often called the Billy Graham of his day. Both men spent several days, even weeks, holding communitywide revival meetings across the country. Both used traditional altar calls at the end of the service, sang hymns and had music leaders.

But few evangelists today could do what Sunday did, said Dr. Andy Pratt, a Baptist campus minister and religion professor at Southeast.

Billy Sunday preached in a time before talking movies, video games and the Internet. "When he came he was the entertainment," Pratt said.

People today have television, are more mobile and less likely to stay interested for long periods of time. Preachers today don't have Sunday's advantage, Pratt said.

But evangelists are still popular. Billy Graham offers an element of entertainment with his crusades. "He still pulls ratings," Pratt said.

Most of Graham's crusades are filmed for television air during prime time, when more viewers are watching.

Billy Sunday used skits, songs and simple lyrics to attract his audiences. But his message was far from simplistic.

The Southeast Missourian quoted Sunday in 1926. "The world's upside down. It needs to be turned right side up. There was never a time when there was such an utter disregard of authority, and I mean both the state and the church."

Sunday came to Cape Girardeau when he was 63 and during a period of decline in his ministry. But Sunday still had a reputation, Coleman said. He reportedly preached to 20,000 people during his five-week visit.

The Sunday tabernacle was eventually torn down after the revival services. Wood from the building was used to construct the original Houck Fieldhouse.

Sunday returned to Cape Girar-deau in 1933 for a two week stay, and died two years later.

ON THE NET

*BILLY SUNDAY ONLINE:

www.billysunday.org

*WHOLESOME WORDS:

www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biorpsunday.html

*WHEATON COLLEGE:

www.wheaton.edu/bgc/archive/sunday/sundtoti.html

*BASEBALL ONLINE LIBRARY:

www.sportsline.com/u/baseball/bol/ballplayers/S/Sunday_Billy.html