The late 1800s was an age of imperialism, and Albert Spalding knew it. Powerful European nations struggled across the globe to carve out colonies and extend their military, economic, and cultural influence to the ends of the earth. America’s industrial interests were doing the same and, in its own way, the game of baseball was, too. Its leading figures, Spalding in particular, promoted the game nationally and internationally with all the fervor and sense of righteousness of a Kipling character. As a result, he organized the Spalding World Tour for the winter of 1888.
Though disappointed that president Grover Cleveland did not give the Spalding World Tour official diplomatic sanction, in October of 1888 Spalding steamed from San Francisco for Australia, proclaiming his intent to bring baseball to the “crowned heads, nobles, and peasantry of the Old World.” On deck with Spalding were two baseball teams. One was his own Chicago club, the other, a combination of players drawn from other professional teams. Before their voyage concluded, they visited Sri Lanka, Egypt, Italy, France, and Great Britain to promote both the game of baseball and Spalding’s budding sporting goods empire.
The Route of the Spalding World Tour
The group, usually known as the Spalding Tourists, had quite a journey. The Sri Lankans demonstrated little interest in the game, though Spalding became so infatuated with rickshaws that he considered founding an American rickshaw company upon returning to the States. They also performed on the sands of Egypt beneath the Great Pyramids. Though the tourists had the good fortune of posing for a photograph draped all over the Great Sphinx like so much Yankee tinsel, this act, along with their unsuccessful efforts to loft baseballs over the ancient tombs of the pharaohs, probably cancelled out whatever curiosity they might have aroused amongst the Egyptian population.
The Spalding Tourists were less fortunate, historic monument-wise, upon arrival in Italy. For a moment, Spalding entertained hopes that the teams would have an opportunity to take up the mantle of the ancient gladiators and perform their art in Rome’s Colesseum. He reportedly even offered Italian officials $5,000 for the privilege. His efforts did not come to fruition, however, nor was he able to secure an exhibition of baseball for the pope, Leo XIII, when His Holiness plead illness. The British proved rather lukewarm to American baseball as well, despite a robust publicity effort that resulted in the heir to the throne, the Prince of Wales, attending a game.
Get a Free Ebook of My Story of the Spalding World Tour!
Shady Aspects of the Spalding World Tour
Amidst all the color and fun, there were darker sides to the expedition. On their way to San Francisco, the clubs acquired a “mascot” for their trip, mascot in this case referring to a young African American named Clarence Duval, who traveled the world with the teams. In Egypt, players dressed Duval in catcher’s gear and led him, roped at the neck, through the Cairo rail station. Both participants and press also described the tour’s purpose using the racist, social Darwinism language of the time. For Spalding, baseball epitomized “all those essentials of manliness, courage, nerve, pluck and endurance, characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race,” while some in the press described the achievement by stating, “a country that holds liberty dear must have . . . men of athletic spirit” who make “a race fit for peace and war.”
So, we see that, as is so often true, baseball’s history reflects the larger realities of American history. The game, like the nation, grew rapidly in the Gilded Age, but that growth required international economic expansion and was not free of the racist mindset of the day. A greater understanding of these relationships helps us put sports in their proper place as part of our nation’s history.
To read about my fictionalized story of the Spalding Tour, please check out my books narrated by Clarence Duval:
Please Subscribe!
If you enjoyed this blog, please consider signing up to follow it by scrolling down or clicking here, and recommending it to your friends. As always, I welcome constructive and polite discussion in the comments section. Thank you!