Alfred James Reach was an Anglo

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sportsman who, after becoming one of the early stars of baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 in the National Association

National Association of Professional Base Ball Players

The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players , or simply the National Association , was founded in 1871 and continued through the 1875 season...

, went on to become an influential executive, publisher, sporting goods manufacturer and spokesman for the sport.

Born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Al Reach was a regular for the champion Eckford

Eckford of Brooklyn

Eckford of Brooklyn, or simply Eckford, was an American baseball club from 1855 to 1872. When the pioneering Union Grounds opened for baseball in 1862, the Eckfords must have been the most important tenant, for they played more games than any other club that year and won the "national"...

 club of Brooklyn in the early 1860s before moving to the Philadelphia Athletics in 1865. When the National Association began, he helped them win the first professional baseball pennant in 1871. Upon his retirement from playing in 1875, he helped found the Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...

 franchise. Reach served as team president from 1883 to 1899. Later, similar to Al Spalding

Albert Spalding

Albert Goodwill Spalding was a professional baseball player, manager and co-founder of A.G. Spalding sporting goods company.-Biography:...

, Reach formed a sporting goods company and earned millions. In fact, he sold his company to Spalding in 1889.

Reach kept his interest in the Phillies franchise, selling out in 1899 to his longtime partner, John Rogers

John Rogers (baseball)

John Ignatius Rogers , was part-owner of the Philadelphia Phillies from to , and majority owner from 1899 to . He also owned the Philadelphia Phillies of the short-lived National Football League of 1902.Rogers was born to Irish immigrant parents in Philadelphia on May 27, 1844...

. Reach died at age 87 in Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...

, and is interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery

West Laurel Hill Cemetery

West Laurel Hill Cemetery is a cemetery located in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the site of many notable burials, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1992...

 in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania

Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania

Bala Cynwyd is a community in Lower Merion Township which is located on the Main Line in southeastern Pennsylvania, bordering the western edge of Philadelphia at US Route 1 . It was originally two separate towns, Bala and Cynwyd, but is commonly treated as a single community...

.

External links