Sunday sporting events were not usually played until the early 20th century. In North America, they were prohibited due to

blue law Blue laws, also known as Sunday laws, Sunday trade laws and Sunday closing laws, are laws restricting or banning certain activities on specified days, usually Sundays in the western world. The laws were adopted originally for religious reasons ...

s at first, but then cities like

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, and

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

later decided to legalize them. Other cities such as New York City and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

had intense political and court battles to legalize the games. Nowadays,

professional sports leagues A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

schedule games on Sundays in the United States, though this practice continues to be opposed by some Christian denominations upholding

first-day Sabbatarian Sabbatarianism advocates the observation of the Sabbath in Christianity, in keeping with the Ten Commandments. The observance of Sunday as a day of worship and rest is a form of first-day Sabbatarianism, a view which was historically heralded ...

doctrine.

Origins

Recreation ground on the Isle of Raasay - geograph

Due to

s, it was considered offensive to work on Sunday, which was expected to be a day of worship and rest from servile labour. In 1794, the

Pennsylvania Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania P ...

restricted activities on Sunday by passing what they called "an Act for the prevention of vice and immorality, and of unlawful gaming, and to restrain disorderly sports and dissipation".

By sport

Baseball

In 1902, Sunday baseball games were legalized in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and

. In 1907, New York City Democrats introduced two bills in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...

that attempted to legalize Sunday baseball. State Assemblyman

Al Smith Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928. The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...

spoke out against the ban of Sunday Baseball arguing that it was better for young men to be playing baseball than to "be driven to places where they play ''Waltz Me Around Again, Willie''." However, both bills were unsuccessful. In 1911,

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, the team became the Oaklan ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Connie Mack Cornelius McGillicuddy (December 22, 1862 – February 8, 1956), better known as Connie Mack, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. The longest-serving manager in Major League Baseball history, he holds untoucha ...

expressed a desire for the Athletics to play on Sunday. The main driving force behind his interest in playing on Sunday was to earn money. The Athletics were not a wealthy baseball club, and Athletics vice-president John Shibe estimated that the team would make $20,000 for each Sunday game that they played in Philadelphia. Mack thought that, for the team, it was financially necessary to play on Sundays, explaining that "we he Athleticscannot meet our payrolls playing on seventy-seven weekdays at home". Many Pennsylvania politicians and religious groups opposed Shibe and Mack's effort for Sunday baseball, claiming that playing on that day was a "breach of peace" and that the games would be "a disturbance to persons in that neighborhood desirous of preserving the peace and quiet of Sunday so that they may in such peace and quiet pursue their religious worship and meditation". Unfortunately for the Athletics, Philadelphia's other baseball team, the Phillies, took no public position on the subject, undermining the Athletics' case. In 1917, the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

and

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

played the first Sunday game ever at the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...

, New York's home field. It was a benefit game, held during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, to assist dependents of a military regiment. However, after the game both managers,

John McGraw John Joseph McGraw (April 7, 1873 – February 25, 1934) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) player and manager who was for almost thirty years manager of the New York Giants. He was also the third baseman of the pennant-winning 1890 ...

and

Christy Mathewson Christopher Mathewson (August 12, 1880 – October 7, 1925), nicknamed "Big Six", "the Christian Gentleman", "Matty", and "the Gentleman's Hurler", was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher, who played 17 seasons with the New York Giant ...

, were arrested for violating the blue laws. Judge

Francis Xavier McQuade Francis Xavier McQuade (August 11, 1878 - April 6, 1955) was a New York City judge. In 1917 he advocated for allowing Sunday baseball games in New York in defiance of existing New York state blue laws. In 1919 he became one of the owners of th ...

found them not guilty and commended them for their patriotic motives. The following year, Sunday baseball was legalized in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Washington, D.C., and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. One year after that,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

legalized baseball games on Sunday, and baseball teams that played in New York (the

, the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

, and the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

) were allowed to have home games on Sunday.

The Athletics fight for Sunday baseball

In 1926, the

were selected to host the

Sesquicentennial Exposition The Sesqui-Centennial International Exposition of 1926 was a world's fair in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its purpose was to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the 50th anniversary o ...

to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of

American Independence The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

. The Exposition was running a deficit so the Board of Directors voted to open on Sundays and charge an admission fee. A few days later, the Athletics announced that they would play a game on August 22, 1926 against the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. Officials for the Athletics felt that there was no difference between charging people admission for Exposition amusements on Sunday, and charging a fee for a baseball game. Philadelphia mayor

W. Freeland Kendrick W. Freeland Kendrick (1873 – March 20, 1953
Accessed March 24, 2008.) was the

objected to the Athletics' decision and announced that he would use police to keep

Shibe Park Shibe Park, known later as Connie Mack Stadium, was a ballpark located in Philadelphia. It was the home of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League (AL) and the Philadelphia Phillies of the National League (NL). When it opened April 12, 1 ...

closed. The Athletics went to court to request that Kendrick's decision be overturned. Judge Frank Smith granted the A's request and ruled on Saturday, August 21, 1926 that those seeking to prohibit Sunday baseball could only do so if "their right to quiet and undisturbed religious worship is encroached upon as a result of the game". Smith's ruling also declared that to prove the game had created "a breach of peace", the game first had to be played, so the earliest legal action that could take place would be on the following Monday. 12,000 spectators attended the game, where the Athletics defeated the White Sox 3-2. During the game, Rev. William B. Forney drove around the park multiple times, and said that he was "ashamed that such an exhibition could be held on the Sabbath", and called the cheers from the crowd a "disgusting noise". Athletics manager Connie Mack was glad that baseball was played on Sunday, and was quoted as saying "I am glad that we won, of course, but I am more than glad that nothing happened that could be construed as a breach of the peace… I wish all those who oppose Sunday baseball could have been here today. They would see that we are not causing a lessening in church attendance." Mayor Kendrick said that although the crowd for Sunday's game was "unusually subdued", he thought that any Sunday game was a breach of peace and the law. He also announced that the city of Philadelphia would seek a higher court to overturn Judge Smith's ruling. Connie Mack quickly announced that scheduling difficulties would prevent any more Sunday games in 1926. Even owner John Shibe told fans that "we are not going out of our way to play Sunday games... As there are no open Sundays left we shall probably leave things as they are until next season." The City of Philadelphia took the case to Dauphin County Court, were the court decided the baseball being played on Sunday was unlawful "worldly employment". The Athletics then announced that they would take their case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, who ruled in September 1927, by a vote of 7 to 2, the Sunday Baseball was both "unholy" and "worldly employment". The Pennsylvania Supreme Court also threatened the Athletics, saying that if the A's continued to play on Sunday, their club corporation franchise would be revoked. After this ruling, Athletics attorney announced that although the Athletics were going to drop their appeal, they did not plan on giving up. In 1931, a bill to liberalize the Blue Sunday Laws was introduced by supporters in the Pennsylvania State Legislature. The bill was passed by the house 106-98, but was soundly defeated by the State Senate. This caused A's attorney Gartling to announce plans to build a 50,000 seat stadium in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

and move the team if Sunday restrictions were not eliminated. A public outcry ensued, which caused owner Shibe to quickly say that the plan was only visionary. In 1933, the House and Senate of Pennsylvania finally passed a bill that allowed local jurisdictions to vote on whether Sunday sports would be legalized in their area. When Philadelphia voted on the proposal, they easily won the right to play sports on Sunday. However, the A's had already sold many of their star players (including

Al Simmons Aloysius Harry Simmons (May 22, 1902 – May 26, 1956), born Alois Szymanski, was an American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Bucketfoot Al", he played for two decades in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder and had his best year ...

Mickey Cochrane Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane (April 6, 1903 – June 28, 1962), nicknamed "Black Mike", was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and Detro ...

, and

Lefty Grove Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove (March 6, 1900 – May 22, 1975) was an American professional baseball pitcher. After having success in the minor leagues during the early 1920s, Grove became a star in Major League Baseball with the American League's P ...

) to pay for team finances, and in 1954 the A's moved to

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. The bill also didn't help the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

, who were struggling financially, until the team was bought by owner

R. R. M. Carpenter, Jr. Robert Ruliph Morgan Carpenter Jr. (August 31, 1915 – July 8, 1990) was an owner and club president of the Philadelphia Phillies of American Major League Baseball. When he took command of the Phillies in November 1943 after his father and he ...

, who was able to fix the Phillies' financial situation.

Football

Lobbying efforts by team owner

influenced Pennsylvania governor

Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...

to modify the state's

on 25 April 1933 "so that local jurisdictions could choose whether to allow baseball or football games to be played on Sunday." In

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, team founder

Art Rooney Arthur Joseph Rooney Sr. (January 27, 1901 – August 25, 1988), often referred to as "The Chief", was the founding owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football franchise in the National Football League (NFL), from 1933 until his death. ...

faced opposition as the city's blue laws prevented him from holding

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

football games on Sundays. Realizing that a large amount of the city's residents who supported blue laws were planning to protest the upcoming

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

vs.

game, Rooney "hurried down to city hall to get some answers", where the Director of Public Safety, Harmar Denny, informed him that only two people held the authority to stop the sporting event from happening, one being himself and the other being

Franklin McQuaide Franklin T. McQuaide (September 2, 1887 - June 21, 1954) was a longtime Pittsburgh Police leader. Early life McQuaide's father was Thomas A. McQuaide, who served as superintendent of Pittsburgh Police from 1904 until 1914. Career He served as P ...

, the superintendent of police. Denny said that he would be out of town on that Sunday. As such, Rooney stopped at McQuaide's office and invited him to sit at the 50-yard line, an offer that MQuaide accepted, which resulted in the football game not being shut down.

Present-day practice

Once the last of the blue laws preventing Sunday baseball were gone, most teams scheduled Sunday games regularly. In the 1950s and 1960s, most teams frequently scheduled doubleheaders on Sunday to maximize attendance. Although rising attendance has led to the elimination of regularly scheduled doubleheaders (with rare exceptions), Major League Baseball still schedules a full slate of games for each Sunday during the season, including Sunday night games televised by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. Minor leagues play regularly on Sunday as well.

Opposition to Sunday sports

Churches teaching the doctrine of

first-day Sabbatarianism Sabbatarianism advocates the observation of the Sabbath in Christianity, in keeping with the Ten Commandments. The observance of Sunday as a day of worship and rest is a form of first-day Sabbatarianism, a view which was historically heralded ...

(Sunday Sabbatarianism), such as the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

es and

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

es, traditionally believe that the

Lord's Day The Lord's Day in Christianity is generally Sunday, the principal day of communal worship. It is observed by most Christians as the weekly memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is said in the canonical Gospels to have been witnessed al ...

should be dedicated to worship (through attendance at church services and family prayer),

works of mercy Works of mercy (sometimes known as acts of mercy) are practices considered meritorious in Christian ethics. The practice is popular in the Catholic Church as an act of both penance and charity. In addition, the Methodist church teaches that th ...

(such as visiting the sick), as well as rest from servile labour. They believe that viewing and participating in sporting events held on Sundays are in violation of the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...

dictum to "

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Hebrew: ''zāḵōr ’eṯ-yōm haš- šabbāṯ lə- qaddəšōw'') is one of the Ten Commandments found in the Torah. The full text of the commandment reads: Background According to the biblical ...

". As such, many Christian sports leagues do not hold games on Sundays. Certain Christian denominations oppose

professional sports In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

as a whole, believing that the industry is guilty of

Sabbath desecration Sabbath desecration is the failure to observe the Biblical Sabbath and is usually considered a sin and a breach of a holy day in relation to either the Jewish ''Shabbat'' (Friday sunset to Saturday nightfall), the Sabbath in seventh-day church ...

because many participating leagues hold sporting events on the Lord's Day.

References

{{Reflist, 2 History of sports in the United States Baseball culture Baseball competitions in the United States Base American football culture

Origins

By sport

Baseball

The Athletics fight for Sunday baseball

Football

Present-day practice

Opposition to Sunday sports

See also

References