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His first career was as [[baseball]] player with the [[Chicago White Stockings]] from 1883-7, the [[Pittsburgh Alleghenies]] in 1888-90, and briefly with the [[Philadelphia Phillies]].<ref>[http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sundabi01.shtml Billy Sunday statistics], baseballreference.com</ref> He was a well-known and notable player (though not stellar), famous for his running speed in the outfield and as a basestealer. He was clocked rounding the bases in fourteen seconds, and in footraces he beat out both the fastest runner in a competing baseball league and a professional sprinter.<ref>Those races were reported in the ''Chicago Tribune,'' Aug. 21, 1885 and Nov. 9, 1885. The races are discussed in ''Sunday at the Ballpark: Billy Sunday's Professional Baseball Career 1883-1890'', by Wendy Knickerbocker, Scarecrow Press, 2000, p. 42-43, 45-47.</ref> 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.

His first career was as [[baseball]] player with the [[Chicago White Stockings]] from 1883-7, the [[Pittsburgh Alleghenies]] in 1888-90, and briefly with the [[Philadelphia Phillies]].<ref>[http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/sundabi01.shtml Billy Sunday statistics], baseballreference.com</ref> He was a well-known and notable player (though not stellar), famous for his running speed in the outfield and as a basestealer. He was clocked rounding the bases in fourteen seconds, and in footraces he beat out both the fastest runner in a competing baseball league and a professional sprinter.<ref>Those races were reported in the ''Chicago Tribune,'' Aug. 21, 1885 and Nov. 9, 1885. The races are discussed in ''Sunday at the Ballpark: Billy Sunday's Professional Baseball Career 1883-1890'', by Wendy Knickerbocker, Scarecrow Press, 2000, p. 42-43, 45-47.</ref> 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 1891 Sunday resigned his $3000/year Philadelphia Phillies contract for an $83/month job as "Secretary of the Religious Department" at the Chicago [[YMCA]]. He became an advance man for revivalist [[J. Wilbur Chapman]], and learned how to organize revival meetings.<ref name=cc>[http://www.christianchronicler.com/history1/fundamentalism_and_billy_sunday.html Fundamentalism and Billy Sunday], christianchronicler.com</ref> He hosted his first revival meeting in [[Iowa]] in 1897 and became an ordained [[Presbyterian]] minister in 1903.<ref name=billysundayorg>[http://billysunday.org/ Billy Sunday Remembered]: ran bases in 14 seconds. [http://billysunday.org/timeline.php3 Billy Sunday timeline]: birth-death dates, base-stealing, turned down Phillies for YMCA, first revival meeting in 1897, ordained 1903, 98,000 accepted Christ in 1917 New York campaign.</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.<ref name=cc>[http://www.christianchronicler.com/history1/fundamentalism_and_billy_sunday.html Fundamentalism and Billy Sunday], christianchronicler.com</ref> In January of 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=billysundayorg>[http://billysunday.org/ Billy Sunday Remembered]: ran bases in 14 seconds. [http://billysunday.org/timeline.php3 Billy Sunday timeline]: birth-death dates, base-stealing, turned down Phillies for YMCA, first revival meeting in 1897, ordained 1903, 98,000 accepted Christ in 1917 New York campaign.</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 name=billysundayorg/>. 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 name=billysundayorg/>. Gale's ''American Decades'' says that by 1920 he was the best-known evangelist in America.