Spalding

Sixty-one years ago a 17-year-old boy at Dexter Park, Chicago, pitched for a baseball team called the "Forest Citys" of Rockford, Ill. and defeated an eastern team, the "Nationals," by the then not so peculiar score of 29 to 23. The boy's name was Albert G. Spalding.

Last week, Manhattan financial reports included an offering of 50,000 shares of A. G. Spalding & Bros., the issue being no-par common at $65. Directors approved a five-to-one stock split-up, increasing common from 60,000 shares, $100 par to 500,000 shares, no-par. Among backers of the new issue was Dillon, Read & Co.

The development of A. G. Spalding & Bros, originally coincided with the de-velopment of baseball. In more recent years it has branched out to parallel increased U. S. interest in track, football, basketball, tennis, golf. The company was founded in 1876, the year that Mr. Spalding was pitcher and manager of the old Chicago team for which "Pop" Anson and Evangelist Billy Sunday played. It was Spalding's Chicago team which first appeared in regulation baseball uniforms. It was Spalding's company which standardized early baseballs and developed the modern baseball bat with the pronounced bulge in its business end.

But balls and bats constitute no major portion of the Spalding company's present production. In 1892, A. G. Spalding & Bros, acquired Wright & Ditson and A. J. Reach, sporting goods companies, and put itself in an almost monopolistic position to profit from that trend in U. S. life which was to add the football stadium to collegiate architecture and golf .to the businessman's routine. Had the famed football player who wished to die for dear old Rutgers realized his ambition, a Spalding ball would have been found under his corpse. The first Davis Cup tennis matches (1900) were played with Wright & Ditson (Spalding) balls. And back in the days when the golfer was viewed with scornful alarm, Mr. Julian W. Curtiss, now Spalding president (Mr. Spalding died in 1915), visited London, learned golf, returned with the clubs and balls from which resulted the manufacture of early U. S. golf equipment.

In 1927, Spalding reported net sales of $23,961,319 and net earnings of $1,050,208. In 1928, net sales increased to $26,024,701 and net earnings to $1,552,367.