A former professional baseball player with an entertainer's flair and a mastery of idiomatic language, Billy Sunday set the pace for modern evangelism. His tabernacle crusades of the early 1900s combined showmanship with Fundamentalism and produced thousands of converts. His influence on the cultural dynamics of the country is incalculable for, while many doubted the sincerity of Sunday's believers, his "Elmer Gantry" style would be copied by American evangelists throughout the twentieth century, serving to increase and cement the religious right as a significant force in society.

Born William Ashley Sunday on November 19, 1862 in a farmhouse near Ames, Iowa, Billy Sunday seemed an unlikely candidate for the ministry. While a stint in an orphanage instilled habits of honesty, Sunday was also known to fight, drink, and chase women. He held a series of odd jobs until a baseball scout noticed his athletic abilities, and...