The Baseball Preacher

The Baseball Preacher

Billy Sunday, Runner for the Lord, by, Elaine Cunningham, is a biography book of 108 pages. The story takes place in Ames, Iowa, and Chicago, California.

Billy Sunday, the main character, is a small town poor boy, who became a nationwide preacher. He was third born on November 19, 1862 to William Ashley Sunday and to Annie Sunday. His widowed poverty stricken mother sent him and his brother Ed to an orphanage in Glenwood, Iowa. His willpower was strong to endure the challenges that life brought to him. At the first orphanage he came across a boy named Butch, who liked to bully the little kids around. Billy taught him a lesson when he dared him to fight at midnight at a nearby grove, Billy won. On other occasions he got into trouble and had to skip his meals for two weeks, this didn't discourage him. His brother Ed, who worked at the kitchen, would sneak him in the kitchen pantry to eat at night. In time they were transferred to another orphanage (Davenport) when the one where they were living closed down.

At the new orphanage his will power demonstrated his athletic qualities. He was known as a fast runner, and excels at baseball. When his brother Ed turned 16 he had to leave the orphanage; Billy went with him. After they had gone home Billy found a job in Nevada, Iowa, and Ed stayed to help his grandpa at the farm. When he was unfairly fired from his job at a hotel, he got another job offer by Colonel Scotts. Months later he went to Marshalltown to be a fireman and play on the baseball team there. While he was working for the fireman team there was a tournament to see who the fastest group of firemen there was, they were first on racing and baseball. Soon the baseball team in Chicago, the White Stockings heard of him and asked him to be on their team, he accepted. One day when he went to the church where he got convicted, he met the women he married. Before he got convicted he was a drunkard and he smoked, and he would say bad language. While he was dating Helen he was entered college, and taught baseball. While he was married he was being a part time preacher and also a baseball player. Later on God asked he to be full time preacher and he followed the Lord. His wife traveled with him after a couple years, when he asked her to come with him. When he was preaching one day he collapsed on the stage, like his wife had months before. After he had preached his last sermon he died at his wife's family's home, on November 19, 1935. His funeral had over 4,000 people. He would have been very happy to see his funeral...

I learned one lesson from Billy Sunday; later on in his life even though he was poor he didn't allow life to have the upper hand of his mind. He trusted God to provide his family with money and food.

One of the best things about this book is that it shows that God