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A hard drinker off the field, in 1886 he was literally picked out of the gutter, drunk, by workers at the Chicago's Pacific Garden Mission, was converted, and stopped drinking.

A hard drinker off the field, in 1886 he was literally picked out of the gutter, drunk, by workers at the Chicago's Pacific Garden Mission, was converted, and stopped drinking.

In the spring of 1891 Sunday resigned his Philadelphia Phillies contract of $3000 for 6–7 months of work for an $83/month job as "Secretary of the Religious Department" at the Chicago [[YMCA]]. Two years later he became an advance man for revivalist [[J. Wilbur Chapman], and learned how to organize revival meetings. In January 1896 he went out on his own and hosted his first revival meeting in Garner, [[Iowa]], and he was ordained as a [[Presbyterian]] minister in 1903.<ref name=cc>[http://www.christianchronicler.com/history1/fundamentalism_and_billy_sunday.html Fundamentalism and Billy Sunday], ''Billy Sunday Was His Real Name'', by William McLoughlin, University of Chicago Press, 1955, p. 8-11.</ref>

In the spring of 1891 Sunday resigned his Philadelphia Phillies contract of $3000 for 6–7 months of work for an $83/month job as "Secretary of the Religious Department" at the Chicago [[YMCA]]. Two years later he became an advance man for revivalist [[J. Wilbur Chapman]], and learned how to organize revival meetings. In January 1896 he went out on his own and hosted his first revival meeting in Garner, [[Iowa]], and he was ordained as a [[Presbyterian]] minister in 1903.<ref name=cc>[http://www.christianchronicler.com/history1/fundamentalism_and_billy_sunday.html Fundamentalism and Billy Sunday], ''Billy Sunday Was His Real Name'', by William McLoughlin, University of Chicago Press, 1955, p. 8-11.</ref>

By 1914, he was a national celebrity, conducting campaigns in big cities which lasted many weeks and attracted tens of thousands of people.  In 1917, he conducted a ten-week campaign in [[New York]] in which 98,000 people accepted Christ.<ref>Lyle Dorsett, ''Billy Sunday and the Redemption of Urban America'', Grand Rapids: Wm. Eerdmans, 1991, p. 106-107.</ref> Gale's ''American Decades'' says that by 1920 he was the best-known evangelist in America.

By 1914, he was a national celebrity, conducting campaigns in big cities which lasted many weeks and attracted tens of thousands of people.  In 1917, he conducted a ten-week campaign in [[New York]] in which 98,000 people accepted Christ.<ref>Lyle Dorsett, ''Billy Sunday and the Redemption of Urban America'', Grand Rapids: Wm. Eerdmans, 1991, p. 106-107.</ref> Gale's ''American Decades'' says that by 1920 he was the best-known evangelist in America.