Billy Sunday was an early forerunner of the contemporary religious right. The most famous traveling evangelist (see entry on Evangelism under 1900s—The Way We Lived in volume 1) of his day, Sunday crusaded across the nation with performances that united fundamentalist religious teaching and conservative politics with good old-fashioned showmanship.

In his early career, Sunday was a womanizing professional baseball player who liked to drink and fight. But after hearing the services of an evangelistic group from the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, Illinois, in 1886, Sunday was soon converted. He gave up drinking, swearing, and womanizing and began offering inspirational talks to his young fans.

Sunday left baseball in 1891 and began a touring ministry four years later. Advance men promoted his appearances as if they were vaudeville (see entry under 1900s—Film and Theater in volume 1) shows. Musical entertainment was furnished by choirs and...