billysunday

Billy Sunday (1862-1935) was a popular baseball player with the Chicago White Stockings from about 1885 to 1897. After his sports career was over, he went on to become an equally popular and influential Christian evangelist. He was a figure in the Temperance movement and played a significant role in advocating for the 18th amendment (Prohibition).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Sunday

Other Bain/LOC photos of Billy Sunday in action:

Billy Sunday

"The tabernacle is a huge affair, at 168th. street and Broadway. It Is 334 feet long and 247 feet wide, has thirty eight doors and the seats are arranged In forty-eight sections, with three large aisles going completely across the building." The sun., March 30, 1917, Page 8, col. 2 chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030431/1917-03-30/ed-... S. also similar photo in The day book., March 16, 1917, NOON EDITION, Image 24 "BILLY SUNDAY TABERNACLE IN NEW YORK While Billy Sunday's advance guard is organizing churches in New York for his campaign there next month, carpenters are finishing the biggest tabernacle ever built for the revivalist, at the old American league ball park. It costs $70,000 and seats 20,000. Nearby are small buildings for sickness, fire and other emergencies." chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1917-03-16/ed-...

A photo taken from the same position, with the building under construction, is in The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, March 25, 1917, SECTION FIVE, Image 67, with a similar caption (col. 1) oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1917-03-25/ed-1/se...

Around this position (Street view): www.google.com/maps/place/40%C2%B050%2727.6%22N+73%C2%B05... The buildings in the background are still there.

Wikipedia on Billy Sunday, an "American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball's National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century."