baseball world tour 1888

chicagology

1888-89 World Tour of Base Ball

The great base ball trip around the world in 1888-’89.

Spalding World Tourist Jimmy Ryan Saturday, October 20, 1888

In order to further promote the interests of Base Ball, a few gentlemen from Chicago, undertook to establish the National Game of America upon foreign soil. Accordingly on the 20th of October 1888, they, in company with a number of ball players, reporters and tourists, left Union Depot on an expedition, known as the Spalding Australian Base Ball Tour. A crowd of people collected to see our departure and also to view the newly decorated and handsome sleeping car Galesburg and dining car, Cosmopolitan, which were consigned to the party until our arrival in Denver, Colorado. The signal for starting was now heard, and with many farewells and good wishes, the train drew out of the Union station, amid the prolonged cheers of the multitude. The myriads of lights were fast receding in the distance but on we plunged into the dark hours of the night, taking our first step toward that far away goal. Everybody is in the best of health and spirits and sounds of revelry were heard, into the “wee” small hours of the morning.

The party of tourists which started on their journey to Australia on October 20, 1888 (from Chicago via the Burlington Railroad), met with an enthusiastic welcome on their route to San Francisco, and in that city they were given a reception on their arrival and a send-off on their departure for Australia, unequaled in the history of the game on the Pacific coast. The record of the series of games played by the two teams—Chicago and All America—en route to San Francisco and while in that city, is appended.

During the tour, the Chicago and All-America teams played fifty-three games of four innings and upwards. Three of these were tie games, and of the remaining fifty, All America won 28 and Chicago 22 games. In addition to these, the Chicago’s played two games against the St. Paul team at Minneapolis and St. Paul, and both Chicago and All America played exhibition games with the teams of the California League, at Stockton, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

DOMESTIC TOUR Chicago, IL 20 October 1888—Chicago 11, All America 6, Attendance 3,000

St. Paul, MN 21 October 1888—Chicago 9, All America 3, Attendance 1,500 21 October 1888—St. Paul 8, Chicago 5, Attendance 2,500

Minneapolis, MN 22 October 1888—All America 6, Chicago 3, Attendance 1,500 22 October 1889—Chicago 1, St. Paul 0, Attendance 2,000

Cedar Rapids, IA 23 October 1888—Chicago 6, All America 5, Attendance 4,500

Des Moines, IA 24 October 1888—All America 3, Chicago 2, Attendance 2,000

Omaha, NE 25 October 1888—All America 12, Chicago 2, Attendance 1,500

Hastings, NE 26 October 1888—Chicago 8, All America 4, Attendance 3,500

Denver, CO 27 October 1888—Chicago 16, All America 12, Attendance 6,000

Colorado Springs, CO 29 October 1888—Chicago 13, All America 9, Attendance 1,200

Salt Lake City, UT 31 October 1888—All America 9, Chicago 3 (4 innings), Attendance 1,200 1 November 1888—All America 10, Chicago 3, Attendance 2,000

San Francisco, CA 4 November 1888—All America 14, Chicago 4, Attendance 10,500 6 November 1888—Greenwood and Moran 12, All America 6, Attendance 3,000 8 November 1888—Pioneer 9, All America 4, Attendance 4,000

Stockton, CA 8 November 1888—Chicago 2, Stockton 2 (Nine Innings), Attendance 4,000

San Francisco, CA 9 November 1888—All America 16, Stockton 1, Attendance Unknown 10 November 1888—Chicago 6, Haverly 1, Attendance 3,000 11 November 1888—All America 9, Chicago 6, Attendance 6,000

Los Angeles, CA 1 14 November 1888—Chicago 5, All America 0 15 November 1888—All America 7, Chicago 4

The Chicago Team

The Chicago Team, September 1889

All America Team Left to right, John Healy of the Indianapolis Hoosiers, Ed Crane of the New York Giants, Jim Fogarty of the Philadelphia Quakers, George Wood, also of Philadelphia, John Montgomery Ward of the New York Giants, Tom Brown of the Boston Beaneaters, Fred Carroll of the Pittsburgh Alleghenys, Ned Hanlon of the Detroit Wolverines, Billy Earle of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, and Jim Manning of the Kansas City Cowboys at Washington Park on April 8, 1889.

Earl also acted as change catcher. The All America team included players from the League clubs of New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Pittsburg and Indianapolis, and from the American Association clubs of Cincinnati and Kansas City. Mr. Spalding stood at the head of the tourist party, with Mr. Leigh S. Lynch as his business manager, and H. H. Simpson as assistant, Mr. J. K. Tener being the treasurer and cashier.

Royal Night Feast to the Base Ball Tourists By King Kalakaua at Honolulu

Left: All-America v. Chicago. First match in Sydney, Dec 15, 1888, Australian Town and Country Journal. Right: Baseball Sketches. Cap Anson at lower left. Illustrated Australian News, 1889.

While en route to Australia the tourists stopped at Honolulu 2 , where they were given a public reception, by King Kalakaua, but their first game played after they had left California was at Auckland, where they first realized what a cordial reception the Australians had prepared for them. On their arrival at Sydney, and afterward at Melbourne, the hearty welcome accorded them, not only as ball players but as representatives of the great Western Republic, was such as to surpass all their anticipations, the heartiness of the greeting, the boundless hospitality and the crowded attendance at their games imparting to their visit a brilliancy of success which fully remunerated Mr. Spalding for all the pecuniary risks he had incurred by the trip. It was originally intended to have made the tour of the colonies a more extended one than was afterward found possible, and so the sojourn of the players on the Australian continent ended sooner than anticipated, only four cities being visited, instead of eight or ten, as laid out. The record of the games played in Australia is as follows:

San Aukland, Australia 10 December 1888—Chicago 22, All America 13, Attendance 4,500

Sydney, Australia 15 December 1888—All America 5, Chicago 4, Attendance 5,500 17 December 1888—All America 7, Chicago 5, Attendance 3,000 18 December 1888—All America 6, Chicago 2, Attendance 2,500

Melbourne, Australia 22 December 1888—Chicago 5, All America 3, Attendance 10,000 24 December 1888—All America 15, Chicago 13, Attendance 6,000

Adelaide, Australia 26 December 1888—All America 19, Chicago 14, Attendance 2,000 27 December 1888—Chicago 12, All America 9, Attendance 2,200 28 December 1888—Chicago 11, All America 4, Attendance, 2,000

Ballarat, Australia 29 December 1888—All America 11, Chicago 7, Attendance 4,500

Melbourne, Australia 1 January 1889—Chicago 14, All America 7, Attendance 2,500 5 January 1889—Chicago 5, All America 0, Attendance 11,000

The route taken by the Spalding baseball tourists.

In commenting on the physique of the American ball players, the editor of the Melbourne Argus says:

The Melbourne Sporteman in its report of the inaugural game in that city, said:

Spalding and the players climbed onto the Sphinx for photographs, much “to the horror of the native worshippers of Cheops and the dead Pharoahs.” No less disconcerting must have been unsuccessful efforts of several ballplayers to throw baseballs over the sacred Egyptian tombs. Observers reported that they amused themselves by throwing baseball’s at the Sphinx’s right eye, and that Fogarty, the Philadelphia outfielder, actually hit it.

After leaving Australia the tourists called at Colombo, Ceylon, and from thence went to Cairo, and while in that city visited the Pyramids, and they managed to get off a game on the sands in front of the Pyramid Cheops on Feb. 9. Their first game in Europe was played at Naples on Feb. 19, and from there they went to Rome, Florence and Nice, the teams reaching Paris on March 3. The record of their games in Europe is as follows:

Colombo, Ceylon 26 January 1889—All America 3, Chicago 3 (Five Innings), Attendance 4,000

Ghiz eh, Cairo, Egypt 9 February 1889—All America 9, Chicago 6, Attendance 1,200

Naples, Italy 19 February 1889—All America 8, Chicago 2, Attendance (Five Innings), Attendance 3,000

Rome, Italy 23 February 1889—Chicago 3, All America 2 (Seven Innings), Attendance 4,000

Chicago and All America Teams Ready For Play at Villa Borghese, Rome

Spalding Tour at the Coliseum.

Florence, Italy 25 February 1889—All America 7, Chicago 4, Attendance 2,000

Paris, France 8 March 1889—All America 6, Chicago 2 (Seven Innings), 4,000

The Base Ball Tourists in the Club House, Kensington Oval, London

The Kennington Oval, South London, England 12 March 1889—Chicago 7, All America 4, Attendance 8,000

Lords’ Cricket Grounds, London, England 13 March 1889—All America 7, Chicago 6, Attendance 7,000

Crystal Palace Grounds, London, England 14 March 1889—Chicago 9, All America 5, Attendance 6,000

Bristol, England 15 March 1889—Chicago 10, All America 3, Attendance 3,000

Leighton, England 16 March 1889—Chicago 12, All America 6, Attendance 8,000

Birmingham, England 18 March 1889—Chicago 4, All America 4 (Ten Innings), Attendance 3,000

Game of Chicago and All America Teams at Crystal Palace Grounds, London

Glasgow, Scotland 21 March 1889—All America 8, Chicago 4 (Seven Innings), Attendance 3,000

Manchester, England 22 March 1889—All America 7, Chicago 6, Attendance 3,588

Liverpool, England 23 March 1889—Chicago 2, All America 2, (Five Innings), Attendance 6,500

Belfast, Ireland 24 March 1889—All America 9, Chicago 8

Dublin, Ireland 27 March 1889—All America 4, Chicago 3, Attendance 4,000

On March 28, the Spalding entourage boarded the steamship Adriatic of the White Star Line for their final ocean voyage back to the States. After nine days, the ship reached New York harbor amid a hero’s welcome. The clubs spent the final two weeks of the adventure attending celebratory banquets, being honored by local dignitaries and, of course, playing ball. The globetrotting ball players took to the field in Brooklyn, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Chicago.

Brooklyn, NY 8 April 1889—All America 7, Chicago 6, Attendance 4,000 9 April 1889 —Chicago 9, All America 4, Attendance 3,000

Baltimore, MD 10 April—All America 2, Chicago 1, Attendance 6,000

Philadelphia, PA 12 April 1889—Chicago 6, All America 4, Attendance 4,000

Boston, MA 13 April, 1889—Chicago 5, All America 2, Attendance 6,000

Washington, D.C. 15 April 1889—Chicago 18, All America 6, Attendance 3,000

Pittsburgh, PA 16 April 1889—All America 3, Chicago 3, (Nine Innings), Attendance 3,000

Cleveland, OH 17 April 1889—Chicago 7 All America 4, Attendance 4,500

Indianapolis, IN 18 April 1889—All America 9, Chicago 5, Attendance 2,000

Chicago, IL 20 April 1889—All America 22, Chicago 9, Attendance 3,700

The tourists’ final celebratory banquet took place at Chicago’s famed Palmer House . The Hall’s collection features one of the beautiful silk-covered menu cards that were presented to each dinner guest that evening, April 19, 1889. The following day, exactly half a year after the tour began, the ballplayers ended their adventure in appropriate fashion, with a baseball game at Chicago’s West Side Grounds.

Left-Menu from the reception dinner for the Americans in Australia on March 25, 1889. Right-April 8, 1889 banquet at Delmonico’s in New York, at which Chauncey Depew was the speaker, with Mark Twain also in attendance.

Jimmy Ryan concluded his diary with one final entry, dated Saturday, April 20:

NOTES: 1 The games played in Los Angeles were considered Exhibition Games. 2 Ironically, when the Spalding baseball tour attempted to play two games in Honolulu on Sunday, November 25, 1888, they were prevented from doing so by the blue laws, which had been created by the original missionaries and were now enforced by their descendants, who were primarily responsible for the development of baseball and the invitation to Spalding to play in Hawaii.

Sources: “Tour of the Spalding B.B.C. Around the World”—Diary of Jimmy Ryan, 1889 Spalding’s Official Base Ball Guide, 1889 Athletic Sports in America, England, and Australia—Harry Clay Palmer, 1889 Chicago Tribune

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

When Baseball Went Global: 'Spalding's World Tour'

Spalding's 1888 travels included Paris, London, Rome and beyond. hide caption

In October 1888, promoter Albert Goodwill Spalding and two baseball teams traveled the globe to put on baseball exhibitions. Mark Lamster's book Spalding's World Tour recounts the adventure, which included visits to Egypt's Sphinx, France's Eiffel Tower and the Roman Coliseum.

Spalding's World Tour

Buy featured book.

Your purchase helps support NPR programming. How?

• Independent Bookstores

Today’s Hours: 9AM - 5PM

• Our Stories

More than 125 years ago, in late October 1888, two baseball clubs and an entourage of business managers, sportswriters, wives, and other enthusiasts of our National Pastime embarked on an extended offseason ball-playing tour. The brains and money behind the expedition was none other than Albert Spalding, a former big league pitcher (and future Hall of Famer) who parlayed his successful playing career into even greater success as a sporting goods mogul and baseball executive.

The effects from the goodwill from the tour continued to be felt around the globe more than a century later.

As initially conceived, the American tourists were to leave Chicago, barnstorm through the western United States, sail across the Pacific to Hawaii (then known as the Sandwich Islands), continue on to Australia where they would stay for a few months, and then return to the United States, all the while playing baseball. Indeed, the words “Spalding’s Australian Base Ball Tour” appear atop the exhibition’s official full-color poster, the only known copy residing in the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. However, just a month into the journey, Spalding, ever the showman, abandoned his original plan in favor of one that would grab more headlines and provide greater exposure to himself and his sporting goods company: A trip around the world.

Menu used by the players on the 1888-89 Spalding Tour as they traveled by train from Chicago to Denver. (Milo Stewart, Jr. / National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

Share this image:

Well over a century later, in 1997, the Museum received an astonishing donation: A diary that detailed each day of the journey, penned by 19th-century ballplayer and Spalding World Tourist Jimmy Ryan. Written boldly atop the first page are the words “Tour of the Spalding B.B.C. Around the World.” Ryan’s first entry, dated Saturday, October 20, 1888, reads as follows:

In order to further promote the interests of Base Ball, a few gentlemen from Chicago, undertook to establish the National Game of America upon foreign soil. Accordingly on the 20th of October 1888, they, in company with a number of ball players, reporters and tourists, left Union depot on an expedition, known as the Spalding Australian Base Ball Tour. A crowd of people collected to see our departure and also to view the newly decorated and handsome sleeping car Galesburg and dining car, Cosmopolitan, which were consigned to the party until our arrival in Denver, Colorado. The signal for starting was now heard, and with many farewells and good wishes, the train drew out of the Union station, amid the prolonged cheers of the multitude. The myriads of lights were fast receding in the distance but on we plunged into the dark hours of the night, taking our first step toward that far away goal. Everybody is in the best of health and spirits and sounds of revelry were heard, into the “wee” small hours of the morning.

The diary, with its amazing firsthand account of the tour, is just one of dozens of artifacts related to this extraordinary voyage, each preserved in the Hall of Fame’s unparalleled collection. For example, as mentioned by Ryan, the ballplayers spent much of their journey from Chicago to Denver in special railroad cars on the Burlington Route. The Hall of Fame has a small, specially-made booklet that served as a menu for meals aboard the Cosmopolitan dining car. Among the choices for the pampered diners were oysters, boiled salmon in a Hollandaise sauce, prairie chicken, and English plum pudding with brandy sauce.

Map showing the route taken by the Spalding baseball tourists, from MSS 33 Oversized World Tours, Box, 1 Folder 3. BL-4010.86

The ballplayers on the journey formed two teams: The National League Chicago White Stockings (today known as the Cubs) and a team comprised of other professional stars (and lesser players) dubbed the All-Americas. Playing their way westward, the teams faced one another in exhibitions in Minnesota (Minneapolis and St. Paul), Iowa (Cedar Rapids and Des Moines), Nebraska (Omaha and Hastings), Colorado (Denver and Colorado Springs), and Salt Lake City in the Utah Territory. (It would be another eight years before Utah earned statehood.)

After a month’s journey, the tourists arrived in Cairo, and on Feb. 9, 1889, mounted camels and donkeys for a pilgrimage to the Sphinx and the pyramids. There, the Chicago and All-America teams played what was assuredly the first game of baseball on the sands of the Giza Plateau. A baseball from that historic contest, kept by tour umpire and future Hall of Famer George Wright, was donated to the Hall of Fame in 1942. Additionally, a photograph of the American party, posing in front and upon the Sphinx, is a part of the Hall of Fame’s extensive photographic collection.

By mid-February, Spalding’s party had reached Rome, where a large crowd, including the Queen of Italy, witnessed their game played at the famed Villa Borghese. After travelling west along the Mediterranean coast, making stops in Pisa, Genoa, Monte Carlo, Nice, and Marseille, the baseball tourists headed inland to Paris, where they spent a week enjoying the capital of France.

After significant effort, Spalding finally managed to stage a game of baseball in the “City of Light” at Parc Aérostatique, just across the Seine from the still incomplete Eiffel Tower. The next day, March 9, the baseball entourage boarded the steamship Normandy for the voyage across the English Channel. Ryan described the harrowing journey in his diary:

The night was pitch dark and a severe storm was brewing; inside the harbor the sea was very rough and the ship tugged away at her anchor chains, as if eager to get under weigh. We soon started, however, and in a short space of time our miseries began. The ship plunged and pitched, tossed and shivered, while the wind whistled through the rigging, threatening to carry the ropes and spars with it. The storm now burst upon us with all its fury and the little vessel laboured heavily under the tons upon tons of water which she was continually shipping. The scene below deck was undiscribable [sic] and as all the hatches were batten down tight, the smell was horrible. Men, women and children were huddled together in the first cabin, some singing, some joking, but the greater majority, praying. Then, aside from these, was another party, who were so awfully seasick that they couldn’t do either, if they wanted to. Of course, I was one of the class ….

Once they reached land, the world tourists embarked upon an ambitious schedule of sightseeing and ball playing. The Chicago and All-America teams played nearly every day for over two weeks, facing one another in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Bradford, Manchester and Liverpool. Visits to Scotland (Glasgow) and Ireland (Belfast and Dublin) were also made, along with an obligatory stop to kiss the famed stone at the Blarney Castle. The ball players met distinguished politicians, famed actors, renowned athletes, and numerous other celebrities. The future King Edward VII witnessed one contest and noted his opinion in royal third person: “The Prince of Wales has witnessed the game of Base Ball with great interest and though he considers it an excellent game, he considers Cricket as superior.” All the while, members of the baseball party collected valued keepsakes, ornate menus and special programs, many of which now reside in Cooperstown.

On March 28, the Spalding entourage boarded the steamship Adriatic of the White Star Line for their final ocean voyage back to the States. After nine days, the ship reached New York harbor amid a hero’s welcome. The clubs spent the final two weeks of the adventure attending celebratory banquets, being honored by local dignitaries and, of course, playing ball. The globetrotting ball players took to the field in Brooklyn, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Indianapolis, and Chicago.

The tourists’ final celebratory banquet took place at Chicago’s famed Palmer House. The Hall’s collection features one of the beautiful silk-covered menu cards that were presented to each dinner guest that evening, April 19, 1889. The following day, exactly half a year after the tour began, the ballplayers ended their adventure in appropriate fashion, with a baseball game at Chicago’s West Side Grounds. With the All-America’s trouncing Chicago, 22-9, the final results of this “World Series” were complete: All-America 29 wins, Chicago 23 wins, and four ties.

Jimmy Ryan concluded his diary with one final entry, dated Saturday, April 20:

To day we have completed the circumference of the globe, for six months ago to day we bid good bye to Chicago and entered upon our tour Around the World. We have given exhibitions of our National Game in every continent on the face of the globe and also thirteen foreign countries and travelled upward of a distance of thirty thousand miles. This afternoon as tourists we played our last game and a great crowd greeted us as we appeared upon our native diamond. The game concluded and so also did the greatest trip in the annals of sport, namely a Baseball Tour “Around the World.” Finis.

Menu for a banquet given A. G. Spalding & Associates after the World Tour on April 19, 1889. BL-3054.63

Mentioned Hall of Famers

Al Spalding

George Wright

• Subscribe here (Opens in new window)
• Manage Subscription (Opens in new window)
• EZ Pay (Opens in new window)
• Vacation Stop (Opens in new window)
• Delivery Issue (Opens in new window)
• Subscriber Terms (Opens in new window)
• Benefits of subscribing (Opens in new window)
• FAQ (Opens in new window)
• Chicago Tribune (Opens in new window)
• Evening Edition (Opens in new window)
• The Beacon-News (Opens in new window)
• The Courier-News (Opens in new window)
• Daily Southtown (Opens in new window)
• Lake County News-Sun (Opens in new window)
• Naperville Sun (Opens in new window)
• Post-Tribune (Opens in new window)
• Naperville Magazine (Opens in new window)
• Advertise with Us (Opens in new window)
• Contact Us (Opens in new window)
• Help Center
• Corrections
• Report an error (Opens in new window)
• Coupon alerts (Opens in new window)
• Where to buy the Tribune (Opens in new window)
• Chicago Tribune Store (Opens in new window)
• Tribune Archives (Opens in new window)
• Do not sell my info (Opens in new window)
• Editorial principles (Opens in new window)
• Tribune Web Notifications
• Privacy policy (Opens in new window)
• Terms of service (Opens in new window)
• Advertising by Ascend (Opens in new window)
• Paid Content by Brandpoint (Opens in new window)
• Paid Partner Content (Opens in new window)
• Breaking News
• Careers and Finance
• Chicago's Top Workplaces
• Jobs & Work
• Real Estate (Opens in new window)
• Who's who (Opens in new window)
• COVID-19 News (Opens in new window)
• COVID-19 en español (Opens in new window)
• Vaccine news (Opens in new window)
• Restaurants
• Restaurant reviews
• Noticias (Opens in new window)
• Entretenimiento
• What to watch
• Things To Do
• Fun & Games (Opens in new window)
• TV Listings
• Lottery results (Opens in new window)
• Environment
• Investigations
• Politics (Opens in new window)
• Criminal Justice
• Suburbs (Opens in new window)
• Daywatch Briefing (Opens in new window)
• Nation & World
• News Obituaries (Opens in new window)
• Death Notice Listings (Opens in new window)
• Place a notice (Opens in new window)
• Tribune Voices
• Chicago Forward
• Comics (Opens in new window)
• Home and Garden
• Pet Adoptions
• The Spin Newsletter (Opens in new window)
• Public Notices (Opens in new window)
• Fun and Games (Opens in new window)
• Daily Crossword (Opens in new window)
• Daily Jumble (Opens in new window)
• Daily Solitaire (Opens in new window)
• Breaking Sports
• Chicago Bears
• Chicago Cubs
• Chicago White Sox
• Chicago Bulls
• Chicago Blackhawks
• Chicago Sky
• College Sports
• High School Sports
• Illinois Sports Betting (Opens in new window)
• Sports Books
• Betting Apps (Opens in new window)
• Promo Codes
• Online Casinos (Opens in new window)
• FanDuel (Opens in new window)
• BetMGM (Opens in new window)
• MLB Betting
• NBA Betting
• NFL Betting
• College Football Betting
• College Basketball Betting
• Soccer Betting
• Horse Racing
• All suburbs (Opens in new window)
• Aurora Beacon-News
• Elgin Courier-News
• Naperville Sun
• Lake County News-Sun
• Post-Tribune
• Daily Southtown
• Special Sections (Opens in new window)
• The Theater Loop
• Weather (Opens in new window)
• Vintage Photos
• Photo requests, reprints (Opens in new window)

Flashback: Baseball at the feet of the Sphinx? A 1888-89 world tour sent the Chicago White Stockings on a really long road trip

World Tour of Baseball players pose for a group portrait at a studio in Melbourne, Australia, in 1889. The tour involved two teams: the Chicago White Stockings, which included Adrian C. "Cap" Anson, seated middle row, third from left; Ned Williamson, seated middle row, far left; and National League players who formed the All-America team, including Ned Hanlon, front row, middle, and John Montgomery Ward, middle row, third from right. The tour's organizer, A.G. Spalding, sits in the middle row, fourth from right. (Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics)

On Feb. 9, 1889, the Chicago White Stockings played the All-America team on a diamond scratched into the sand at the feet of the Sphinx. The only spectators were Bedouin villagers and a few foreigners touring Egypt.

“Though only five innings were played on account of the lateness of the hour the game was hotly contested, each team being anxious to place a game unique in the annals of base-ball among its list of victories,” John Montgomery Ward wrote.

Ward, shortstop and captain for the All-America team, sent reports over cable to the Tribune of what had to be the longest road trip in baseball history.

From October 1888 to April 1889, the two teams toured the United States, Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe, traveling by train, ocean liner — and pack animals. Camels and donkeys bought them from a Cairo hotel to the game in Egypt that Chicago’s players lost 10 to 6.

John Montgomery Ward, left, shortstop and captain for the All-America team, poses on the base stones of the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt, in February 1889. (Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics)

“Riding on a rail must be a soft seat compared to being sawed in two on a camel’s back,” Ward observed in his Tribune correspondence.

The sand made the game challenging. Adrian C. “Cap” Anson, Chicago’s player-manager, lost his balance in the sand while leading off first base and was tagged out as he crawled back.

The World Tour of Baseball, as it was ballyhooed, was the brainchild of A.G. Spalding, president of the White Stockings, the team that would become the Chicago Cubs. A pitcher of note himself, Spalding owned a sporting goods company famed for developing the official baseball of the National League.

If more countries played baseball, Spalding reasoned, he’d sell more gloves, bats and balls. So he made his team missionaries of America’s national pastime. Its opponents were culled from the rosters of other National League teams.

To kick off their tour, the players paraded through the streets of Chicago, led by a brass band, following a farewell game on Oct. 20, 1888, at Chicago’s West Side Park. Spalding pitched a winning game that 1,500 fans might have savored if not for the weather. “A north wind swept over the grounds and drove most of the spectators to the bleaching boards on the north side of the grounds,” the Tribune reported.

Albert Goodwill Spalding, better known as A.G. Spalding, pitched for the Boston Red Stockings from 1871-75. He left Boston to play for the Chicago White Stockings and eventually became team president. (Associated Press)

Cognizant of winter’s approach in the Northern Hemisphere, Spalding scheduled baseball’s apostles to play games before the close of November in the Heartland and out West as they made their way toward the equator. They stopped in Hawaii but didn’t tarry there; they had to scratch two games because of local blue laws, which prohibited baseball on Sunday.

“I never knew before there was so much water and so little land,” Ward observed after their nearly monthlong voyage to Sydney, Australia. As they sailed into the harbor, the scene “brought first joy and then tears,” he wrote in a Dec. 16, 1888, dispatch that the Tribune published in late January 1889.

“The Stars and Stripes were everywhere interwoven with the English ‘jack,’” he wrote.

A baseball game played on Sydney’s cricket grounds got mixed reviews. Spectators didn’t like the advantage in baseball that a pitcher has over the batter.

“Still they were apparently much pleased, especially by the outfielding and quick return of the ball, by the base running and sliding, and especially when a runner was caught between bases,” Ward reported.

Moving on to Melbourne, the Americans drew thousands of spectators to two games. In a light moment, at the behest of a bet, a few of the players competed to see who could throw a cricket ball the farthest. Edward Crane, a pitcher for the All-America team, won with a throw of just over 128 yards, apparently breaking a record.

The Chicago Tribune opinion section publishes op-eds from readers and experts about specific issues of the day. Op-eds reflect the views of the writer and not necessarily the Chicago Tribune .

Spalding left Melbourne pleased with having made $15,000, as there were slimmer prospects of profits ahead in Sri Lanka.

After Sri Lanka and the game in Egypt, they proceeded to Italy. On their train ride to Naples, an outfielder for the White Stockings pulled a childish stunt. “A few miles out (Martin) Sullivan jokingly took away the guard’s trumpet, by sounding of which he signals the engineer when to start, and when we reached the station at Naples there was a platoon of policemen and a small division of the King’s army waiting to receive us,” Ward wrote in a dispatch dated Feb. 20.

The game similarly resembled slapstick comedy. The Chicagoans were losing 8 to 2 and eager to get it over. “And when, in the last half of the fifth, a foul struck a bystander in the face they took advantage of the excitement to draw the crowd upon the grounds, while (Cap) Anson was seen to pick up the home-plate and walk off the field.”

In the argument that followed, the All-Americans insisted they’d won, and “thus escaped the substitution of an empty honor — a forfeited game — for a well-earned victory.”

In Rome, Spalding was dismayed at being denied use of the Colosseum. But Ward gushed over the scene in the gardens of the Villa Borghese, where Chicago won 3 to 2.

“Never before in all my experience on the diamond have I seen as many distinguished persons among a crowd of base-ball spectators as were in attendance here this afternoon,” he wrote. “The nobility was out in all its glory.”

In Paris, Crane, the cricket ball-throwing champion, pitched a two-hitter that beat the White Stockings 6 to 2 in front of 500 spectators. The French decided that baseball had descended from “Jehque,” an old Norman sport.

The March 14, 1889, Chicago Tribune reported that 7,000 people gathered to see a World Tour of Baseball game in London on March 13. (Chicago Tribune)

When the teams played in London, a new correspondent reported the White Stockings’ loss on March 13, though the Chicagoans defeated the All-Americans at two other games in the capital city. Ward appended a note that he was returning to the U.S. to check on a players union dispute.

The tour bounced around England, Scotland and Ireland. The teams boarded a steamship in late March to New York, and upon their arrival, crowds welcomed them as conquering heroes, with a brass band playing “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.”

During a civic banquet at the posh Delmonico’s restaurant, literary giant Mark Twain offered a toast: “I drink long life to the boys who plowed a new equator around the globe, stealing bases on their bellies.”

They were briefly received at the White House by President Benjamin Harrison. At a game in Washington, D.C., Chicago triumphed 18 to 6.

From there, the White Stockings played the All-Americans at various stops en route to Chicago, where a banquet at the Palmer House awaited them. Was their trip a success? Spalding quipped he’d lost $8 in Monaco. And the White Stockings were bested by the All-America team in 28 of 50 games, with three additional games ending in ties.

Vintage Chicago Tribune

Chicagoans made their feelings known.

They fought to get into the train station when the White Stockings arrived and scrambled to get out when Spalding’s entourage departed in 11 carriages, each drawn by four horses. Fireworks flashed as the players traveled past torch-carrying fans and Scottish pipers. Street toughs rubbed shoulders with smartly dressed men and women. Police officers desperately tried to control the crowd. A Tribune reporter observed:

“The ball-players bore themselves with the dignity becoming men who had shown the nobility of the effete monarchies that they could take the flies off anything, especially a bat.”

[email protected]

Share Flashback ideas with editors Colleen Kujawa and Marianne Mather at [email protected] and [email protected] .

• >  April  

File : 1888 Spalding Baseball world tour Chicago White Sox.jpg

File history, file usage on commons, file usage on other wikis.

Original file ‎ (1,800 × 1,225 pixels, file size: 262 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg )

Summary [ edit ]

Licensing [ edit ], original upload log [ edit ].

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

You cannot overwrite this file.

The following page uses this file:

• User:Adeletron 3030/botgalleries/Ballsports/2018 March 21-31

The following other wikis use this file:

• Adelaide Oval

This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.

Structured data

Items portrayed in this file, copyright status, public domain, f81edd5b268fba02fd8f08c1800558de7b4b07d2, 268,020 byte, 1,225 pixel, 1,800 pixel.

• Chicago White Sox
• PD-Australia
• PD US expired

Navigation menu

• Main archive page
• Baseball Research Journal
• National Pastime
• Order Back Issues

© 2005 - 2023 Society for American Baseball Research - Research Journal Archives. Designed by JoomlArt.com

Museum and Exhibition Center

Museum and Exhibition Center - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

• (0.03 mi) Elektrostal Hotel
• (1.15 mi) Yakor Hotel
• (1.65 mi) Apelsin Hotel
• (1.42 mi) Mini Hotel Banifatsiy
• (1.53 mi) Elektrostal apartments
• (0.20 mi) Prima Bolshogo
• (0.30 mi) Makecoffee
• (0.40 mi) Mazhor
• (0.42 mi) Amsterdam Moments
• (0.42 mi) Pechka

Forget Password?

Moscow Metro Daily Tour

Proceed booking, already a member, don't have an account create one., or continue as guest, adding item to wishlist requires an account, why book with us.

• No-hassle best price guarantee
• Customer care available 24/7
• Hand-picked Tours & Activities

Tour Description

  Muscovites believe that the underground system here is  the best in the world . It is by far the fastest, the most popular and convenient public transport in Moscow, which also looks like an extravagant museum. The stations feature the masterpieces of Russia’s greatest sculptors, painters and artisans. On this 1.5 hour tour you will see jaw-dropping frescoes, sculptures, chandeliers and stained glass mosaics . We will show you the most beautiful stations of the underground as well as introduce you to the history and modern life of the most popular transport in Moscow.

What you will see

• The 9 most beautiful underground metro stations in Moscow
• The talisman of all Muscovites – the Frontier Guard with his dog
• Award-winning art deco station
• Historic works of art from Soviet times

Meeting point

Bolshoi Theatre ( Google Map )

Availability

• Adults: 22 eur/1500 rub
• Students: 18 eur/1200 rub

Booking is essential!

Please let us know if for some reason you can´ t attend the tour!

Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

• CBSSports.com
• Fanatics Sportsbook
• CBS Sports Home
• Champions League
• Motor Sports
• High School
• Horse Racing 

Football Pick'em

College Pick'em

Fantasy football, fantasy basketball, fantasy hockey, fantasy baseball, franchise games, 24/7 sports news network.

• CBS Sports Golazo Network
• College Football on CBS
• College Basketball on CBS
• UEFA Champions League
• UEFA Europa League
• Italian Serie A
• Concacaf Nations League
• Watch CBS Sports Network
• TV Shows & Listings

Fantasy Football Today Podcast

Dominate your league!

The Early Edge

A Daily SportsLine Betting Podcast

• Podcasts Home
• Cover 3 College Football
• Fantasy Football Today
• The First Cut Golf
• NFL Pick Six
• Eye On College Basketball
• Morning Kombat
• My Teams Organize / See All Teams Help Account Settings Log Out

2023 DP World Tour Championship live stream, how to watch online, TV schedule, golf tee times, channel

The race to dubai may have a winner but plenty remains on the line in the european finale.

The DP World Tour season is set to reach its conclusion this week with the 2023 DP World Tour Championship taking center stage at Jumeirah Golf Estates, Earth Course in Dubai. The top 50 players from the Race to Dubai standings will once again take to this par 72 with one eye on a massive payday that could be theirs come Sunday.

Rory McIlroy has already wrapped up the Race to Dubai crown thanks to regular-season performance. Highlighted by a come-from-behind victory at the 2023 Scottish Open, the Northern Irishman has claimed his fifth season-long title on the European circuit. No matter the case, the heavy hitters have arrived and look to put their finishing touches on the calendar year.

Race to Dubai No. 2 Jon Rahm makes his first start since the 2023 Ryder Cup, as does FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland. Englishmen Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood all hope to continue their fine form. Fleetwood comes in following a nice start at the Nedbank Challenge, while Fitzpatrick won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship his last time out in early October.

These stars have their pick of the litter when it comes to where they wish to play in the world. Adrian Meronk hopes for the same as PGA Tour cards will be granted to the top 10 players in the rankings who do not already have their PGA Tour cards for 2024. The top player among these 10 will be fully exempt and adds an extra layer of drama among the likes of Adrian Meronk, Ryan Fox, Robert MacIntyre and Victor Perez.

All times Eastern; streaming start times approximated.

Round 3 - Saturday

Round starts:  11:30 p.m. Friday

Live TV coverage:  2-8 a.m. on Golf Channel Live stream:  2-8 a.m. on Peacock

Round 4 - Sunday

Round starts:  11 p.m. Saturday

Live TV coverage:  1:30 - 7:30 a.m. on Golf Channel Live stream:  1:30 - 7:30 a.m. on Peacock

Our Latest Golf Stories

2023 Hero World Challenge picks, prediction, odds, bets

Cbs sports staff • 4 min read, 2023 hero world challenge odds, tiger woods picks, cbs sports staff • 3 min read.

R&A CEO: Golf ball rollback across sport only option

Patrick mcdonald • 2 min read.

McIlroy, Woods collect $27 million from PIP fund

Kyle porter • 2 min read.

LIV Golf releases full schedule for 2024 season

Kyle porter • 1 min read.

Tiger, Charlie Woods commit to PNC Championship

How to watch 2023 DP World Tour Championship

Åberg nets first PGA Tour victory

Tiger to play Hero World Challenge

Tiger, Charlie Woods will play PNC Championship

TGL postpones debut to 2025 after arena damage

Spieth will replace McIlroy on PGA Tour policy board

Højgaard claims 2023 DP World Tour Championship