SABR 53: Al Reach selected as SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend of 2025
JUNE 27, 2025 — Alfred James “Al” Reach has been selected as SABR’s Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend for 2025. The announcement was made on Friday, June 27 at the Nineteenth Century Committee’s annual business meeting at SABR 53 in Irving, Texas.
This summer, 164 SABR members submitted their votes for the 2025 Overlooked 19th Century Base Ball Legend — a 19th-century player, manager, executive or other baseball personality not yet inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The ballot consisted of sixteen candidates, four from each of four tracks: Players from the Major Leagues (1876–1900), Pioneers/Contributors, Managers/Executives/Umpires, and Black Baseball.
Previous Overlooked Legends were Pete Browning in 2009, Deacon White (2010), Harry Stovey (2011), Bill Dahlen (2012), Ross Barnes (2013), Doc Adams (2014), Tony Mullane (2015), Jack Glasscock (2016), Bob Caruthers (2017), William Hoy (2018), Jim Creighton (2019), Bud Fowler (2020), Charlie Bennett (2021), Moses Fleetwood Walker (2022), Bobby Mathews (2023), and Chris Von der Ahe (2024). White became the first Overlooked Legend to be voted into the Hall of Fame in 2013. Fowler was also inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2022.
Reach spent over 40 years in baseball. He was one of the best players of his era and one of the first to be paid. Reach began playing in 1857 with the Union Star Club of Brooklyn and continued with the Brooklyn Jacksons from 1858 through 1860. He played for the Eckford Club of Brooklyn from 1861–1864, participating on championship teams in 1862 and 1863. During 1864 he played for both Eckford and the Athletic Club of Philadelphia. Reach became the Athletics regular second baseman in 1865 through the team’s 1871 season when they won the National Association championship.
Reach got into the sporting goods business around 1866, and in 1874 opened a sporting goods store which led to him forming the A.J. Reach Company. His company would go on to merge with Albert Spalding’s sporting goods empire in 1892, but both companies retained their own identities. Reach balls, which were the official baseball of the American Association from 1883–1891, became the official baseball of the American League and the Reach Official Base Ball Guide was published from 1883 to 1939.
Reach became a founder and owner of the National League’s Philadelphia franchise, now the Phillies, in 1883 until he sold his interest in the team in 1903. During his tenure, he built two ballparks, the first one burning down and replaced with what would be called the Baker Bowl, the first modern ballpark made from brick and steel.
Reach was an Overlooked Legend finalist from 2013–2025, finishing fifth in 2024. He was also a finalist on the Hall of Fame’s Pre-Integration Era ballot in 2013. Here are the final election results, with their overall point totals:
- Al Reach: 302 points
- Tommy Bond: 261
- George Stovey: 248
- Grant “Home Run” Johnson: 242
- Octavius Catto: 204
- Paul Hines: 200
- Joe Start: 165
- Cal McVey: 159
- George Van Haltren: 158
- Jim McCormick: 148
- Charlie Grant: 85
- John T. Brush: 66
- Bob Emslie: 61
- Dick McBride: 58
- Frank Bancroft: 57
- Nick Young: 36
For more information on the Overlooked 19th Century Baseball Legends Project, visit SABR.org/overlooked-19th-century-baseball-legends or contact Project co-chairs Adam Darowski and Joe Williams.
Originally published: June 27, 2025. Last Updated: June 16, 2025.