Charles Harry "Dick" Spalding (October 13, 1893 – February 3, 1950) was an American soccer and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. 'C.H.', as he also was nicknamed, played the first two games in the history of the U.S. national soccer team and competed in professional soccer for nearly fifteen years, primarily with teams based in Pennsylvania. Besides, Spalding spent two seasons in Major League baseball and later served as a first base coach. A lifelong resident of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1951.

Soccer

Club career

Spalding attended the Northeast Manual Training School in

, where he was a multi-sport athlete. He then went on to play soccer with the Lighthouse Boys Club as well as several other local Philadelphia clubs. In 1916, when called into the U.S. national team, he was with the

Disston A.A. Philadelphia Tacony Disston Athletic Association Football Club, better known as Disston A.A. and nicknamed The Sawmakers was a U.S. soccer team sponsored by the Disston Saw Works company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The team played for several ye ...

In the fall of 1916, he signed with Bethlehem Steel F.C. of the

National Association Football League The National Association Football League (also spelled ''National Association Foot Ball League'') (NAFBL) was a semi-professional U.S. soccer league which operated between 1895 and 1898. The league was reconstituted in 1906 and continued to oper ...

(NAFBL). However, he injured his knee and did not play consistently until January 1917. In November 1919, he signed with Philadelphia Merchant Ship of the NAFBL. In 1921, he joined the Harrison S.C. of the American Soccer League (ASL). He then spent the 1924–1925 ASL season with

Fleisher Yarn Fleisher Yarn began as an amateur company soccer club of the SB & BW Fleisher Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia and quickly became a national amateur soccer power. They won the Philadelphia Industrial League championship in 1920/21, both the All ...

National team

In 1916, the

United States Football Association The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is a ...

(USFA) recruited a team, called the All-American Soccer Football Team, to represent the U.S. on a tour of Scandinavian countries. At the time, these countries and the U.S. were all neutral during the ongoing World War I. During the six game tour, the U.S. played two recognized international games, one on August 21, 1916, against Sweden and another on September 3, 1916, against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. There are disagreements about who scored the first national team goals. While the National Soccer Hall of Fame lists Spalding, other sources state that

Thomas Swords Thomas Swords (October 2, 1885 in Fall River, Massachusetts – March 29, 1953, in Fall River, Massachusetts) was an American soccer forward, who served as captain of the U.S. national team in its first two games. He is a member of the Nationa ...

scored an unassisted goal against Sweden.
/sup> After this tour, Spalding never played for the U.S. again. He was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 1950.

Baseball

Player

In addition to his soccer career, Spalding was also a successful baseball player. In 1916, while a member of the U.S. national soccer team, he played in a baseball game against a Swedish baseball team from

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås is the se ...

. In 1927, he signed as an outfielder the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

Philadelphia Phillies. In 1928, he moved to the Washington Senators of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

. Spalding also spent time in the International League where he played for the Rochester Red Wings and the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen ...

First Base Coach

Spalding's friendship with Jimmie Wilson led to two stints as a first base coach. In 1934, Wilson hired Spalding as the first base coach for the Philadelphia Phillies. In 1941, he was brought into the Chicago Cubs, again by Wilson, to become the Cubs’ first base coach. Spalding died after a long illness in Philadelphia at the age of 56.

External links

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Baseball stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spalding, Dick 1893 births 1950 deaths United States men's international soccer players Lighthouse Boys Club players National Association Football League players Bethlehem Steel F.C. (1907–1930) players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Disston A.A. players Philadelphia Merchant Ship players American Soccer League (1921–1933) players Harrison S.C. players Fleisher Yarn players National Soccer Hall of Fame members Baseball players from Philadelphia Major League Baseball outfielders Philadelphia Phillies players Rochester Red Wings players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Chicago Cubs coaches Philadelphia Phillies coaches Major League Baseball first base coaches Chicago Cubs scouts American men's soccer players Soccer players from Philadelphia Men's association football defenders