Player Pages > Al Spalding

First a top-notch pitcher, then a successful manager, and later the president of the Chicago White Stockings, Albert Goodwill Spalding helped establish baseball as America's Pastime. In 1877, while still in uniform as one of baseball's best pitchers, he formed A.G. Spalding & Bros., a sporting goods manufacturer. Quickly, through his own innovative licensing plan, the National League was using the Spalding baseball exclusively. Later he launched Spalding's Official Baseball Guide, which helped revolutionize the way the game was covered and preserved the official statistics for posterity. In 1905, his dogged determination resulted in the creation of the commission that reported that baseball had been invented in Cooperstown, preserving his contention that the game was Red, White and Blue in origin.