Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The baseball newsletter that loves the game as much as Iván Rodríguez loved throwing out base runners.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about an epic adventure to spread baseball around the world.

It all started with a man Albert Goodwill Spalding.

You guessed it, he's the founder of Spalding Sporting Goods.

They're mostly known for their basketballs these days, but the company actually got their start in baseball.

AG Spalding had a seven-year MLB career, and created the company in 1876.

From then on, Spalding was the official baseball of the MLB for about 100 years.

Remember these??

But perfecting the modern day baseball isn't the only contribution Spalding made to the game.

He also helped organize the National League, and took baseball on its first-ever world tour.

In Spalding's mind, a world tour would be a great way for the game to grow, and in the process he would be able to leverage the increased popularity to benefit his new sporting goods company.

The tour was a massive undertaking with crazy logistical challenges, though.

The two teams, the Chicago White Stockings and the All-America team, played the domestic leg first, and then set sail for Australia on November 22, 1888.

It took them more than two weeks to get to their first stop.

Taking the bus can be a little grueling at times, but imagine going on the road and having to sail through rough international waters for weeks in order to get to your next stop.

All for the love of the game, baby!

The tour stops included: Australia, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Italy, France, England, Scotland, and Ireland.

For the most part, they were met with enthusiasm everywhere they went.

People were super impressed by the speed, grace, and precision of the ballplayers, BUT they definitely made a few bad impressions along the way too.

This is probably the wildest photo from the trip.

Observers reported that the players amused themselves by trying to hit the right eye of the sphinx with a baseball, and Jim Fogarty actually did.

The locals didn't like that very much.

But 1889 was a different time, so we'll give 'em a pass.

All in all, the tour was a huge success, and the players returned to a hero's welcome.

The teams concluded the final weeks of their tour with festive banquets, accolades from local dignitaries, and more baseball games.

In April of 1889, they wrapped up with a game back at home in Chi-town.

If you wanna go deeper, you can find all the tour dates, locations, and photos here.

FROM THE GALLERY

This “dream scene” features five GOAT’s having a mythical meeting in the clubhouse - it’s a must-have for any Yankees fan.

We’re offering an exclusive $20 discount for Dead Legends subscribers.

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RIDICULOUS STATS

BASEBALL TRIVIA

STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Pink wasn't the greatest pitcher of all time - he took more L's than W's.

But one thing you can't say about him, is that he wasn't tough.

Hawley had six seasons where he threw over 30 complete games.

In 1895, this animal pitched 444.1 innings.

My arm hurts just thinking about it.

TELL ‘EM WE SENT YOU

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The cool thing about all of these companies is that when you subscribe to or buy anything from them, we get a little kickback.

So by supporting them, you’re supporting us.

THE DEAD LEGENDS ARCHIVE

If you like this story, check out some of our past favorites:

• The Farm Boy: Cy Young’s Story

• The Chalmers Scandal: Ty Cobb wins a car

• The Dagger: A home run that ended a career

• The Night In Havana: Van Lingle Mungo barely makes it out of Cuba

• The Highest Stakes: An underground poker game with attendees ranging from Leonardo DiCaprio to A-Rod