# Al Reach

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English baseball player and executive (1840–1928)

Baseball player

Al Reach Right fielder Born: (1840-05-25)May 25, 1840 London, England Died: January 14, 1928(1928-01-14) (aged 87) Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. Batted: Left Threw: Left MLB debut May 20, 1871, for the Philadelphia Athletics Last MLB appearance May 21, 1875, for the Philadelphia Athletics MLB statistics Batting average .247 Home runs 0 Runs batted in 56 Stats at Baseball Reference Teams National Association of Base Ball Players Brooklyn Eckfords (1861–1864) Philadelphia Athletics (1865–1870) League player Philadelphia Athletics (1871–1875) League manager Philadelphia Phillies (1890)

Alfred J. Reach Historical Marker on [Chestnut Street](/source/Chestnut_Street_(Philadelphia)) in [Philadelphia](/source/Philadelphia)

**Alfred James Reach** (May 25, 1840 – January 14, 1928) was an Anglo-American sportsman who was one of the early stars of [baseball](/source/Baseball) in the [National Association](/source/National_Association_of_Professional_Base_Ball_Players). After his playing career, he went on to become an influential executive, publisher, sporting goods manufacturer, and spokesman for the sport. He was influential in the founding of the [Philadelphia Phillies](/source/Philadelphia_Phillies) in 1875.

## Early life

Reach was born in [London](/source/London), on May 25, 1840.[1]

## Career

Reach was a regular for the champion [Eckford](/source/Eckford_of_Brooklyn) club in [Brooklyn](/source/Brooklyn) in the early 1860s before moving to the [Philadelphia Athletics](/source/Philadelphia_Athletics_(1860%E2%80%931876)) in 1865.[1] When the National Association began, he helped them win the first professional baseball pennant in 1871.[2]

Upon his retirement from playing in 1875, he helped found the [Philadelphia Phillies](/source/Philadelphia_Phillies) franchise. Reach served as team president from 1883 to 1899.[1] Later, similarly to [Albert Spalding](/source/Albert_Spalding), Reach formed a sporting goods company and earned millions. In fact, he sold his company to [Spalding](/source/Spalding_(company)) in 1889.[1] Reach was the trade name used on the game balls for the [American League](/source/American_League) until 1976.

Reach kept his interest in the Phillies franchise, selling to a syndicate led by [James Potter](/source/James_Potter_(baseball)) in 1903.[3]

## Death

Reach died at age 87 in [Atlantic City, New Jersey](/source/Atlantic_City%2C_New_Jersey), and is interred at [West Laurel Hill Cemetery](/source/West_Laurel_Hill_Cemetery) in [Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania](/source/Bala_Cynwyd%2C_Pennsylvania).

## Legacy

A [Pennsylvania historical marker](/source/Pennsylvania_historical_markers) was dedicated on April 4, 2003 at 1820 [Chestnut Street](/source/Chestnut_Street_(Philadelphia)) in [Philadelphia](/source/List_of_Pennsylvania_state_historical_markers_in_Philadelphia_County) for Reach's contribution to baseball.[4]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-History_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-History_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-History_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-History_1-3) [History for Alfred James Reach](http://www.webcemeteries.com/westlaurelhill/LH.asp?Id=422016&T=T) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120428130800/http://www.webcemeteries.com/westlaurelhill/LH.asp?Id=422016&T=T) 2012-04-28 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) at webcemetaries.com

1. **[^](#cite_ref-test_2-0)** [Al Reach Statistics](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reachal01.shtml) at baseball-reference.com

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** "Society in Baseball". *The New York Times*. March 1, 1903.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Pennsylvania Historical Marker Search"](https://www.phmc.state.pa.us/PHMCWebSearch/ViewMarker.aspx?markerId=1216). *PHMC*. Retrieved November 3, 2018.

## External links

- Career statistics from [Baseball Reference](https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reachal01.shtml) · [Retrosheet](https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Preaca101.htm)

- [Al Reach](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/12898) at [Find a Grave](/source/Find_a_Grave)

Records Preceded by Al Barker Oldest recognized verified living baseball player September 15, 1912 – January 14, 1928 Succeeded by Harry Berthrong

v t e Philadelphia Phillies managers Bob Ferguson (1883) Blondie Purcell (1883) Harry Wright (1884–1890) Jack Clements (1890) Al Reach (1890) Bob Allen (1890) Harry Wright (1891–1893) Arthur Irwin (1894–1895) Billy Nash (1896) George Stallings (1897–1898) Bill Shettsline (1898–1902) Chief Zimmer (1903) Hugh Duffy (1904–1906) Billy Murray (1907–1909) Red Dooin (1910–1914) Pat Moran (1915–1918) Jack Coombs (1919) Gavvy Cravath (1919–1920) Bill Donovan (1921) Kaiser Wilhelm (1921–1922) Art Fletcher (1923–1926) Stuffy McInnis (1927) Burt Shotton (1928–1933) Jimmie Wilson (1934–1938) Hans Lobert (1938) Doc Prothro (1939–1941) Hans Lobert (1942) Bucky Harris (1943) Freddie Fitzsimmons (1943–1945) Ben Chapman (1945–1948) Dusty Cooke (1948) Eddie Sawyer (1948–1952) Steve O'Neill (1952–1954) Terry Moore (1954) Mayo Smith (1955–1958) Eddie Sawyer (1958–1960) Andy Cohen (1960) Gene Mauch (1960–1968) Bob Skinner (1968–1969) George Myatt (1969) Frank Lucchesi (1970–1972) Paul Owens (1972) Danny Ozark (1973–1979) Dallas Green (1979–1981) Pat Corrales (1982–1983) Paul Owens (1983–1984) John Felske (1985–1987) Lee Elia (1987–1988) John Vukovich (1988) Nick Leyva (1989–1991) Jim Fregosi (1991–1996) Terry Francona (1997–2000) Larry Bowa (2001–2004) Gary Varsho (2004) Charlie Manuel (2005–2013) Ryne Sandberg (2013–2015) Pete Mackanin (2015–2017) Gabe Kapler (2018–2019) Joe Girardi (2020–2022) Rob Thomson (2022–2026) Don Mattingly (2026–present)

v t e Principal owners of the Philadelphia Phillies franchise Al Reach & John Rogers James Potter Israel Wilson Durham Charles Phelps Taft and Horace Fogel William H. Locke William Baker Charlie Ruch Gerald Nugent William D. Cox Robert R. M. Carpenter Bob Carpenter Ruly Carpenter Bill Giles and David Montgomery John S. Middleton

v t e Philadelphia Athletics 1871 National Association champions George Bechtel Ned Cuthbert Wes Fisler George Heubel Fergy Malone Dick McBride Levi Meyerle John Radcliff Al Reach Count Sensenderfer Manager: Dick McBride

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Al Reach](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Reach) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Reach?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.