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Posted April 9, 2007
Adrian Constantine "Cap" Anson was born on April 17, 1852, in Marshalltown, the first white child born in Marshall County. But despite that notoriety, Anson is known throughout the sports world as one of the great early-day players of professional baseball, a Hall of Famer who may have been the first man to record 3,000 hits.

Anson was a mischievous boy who was sent to the University of Notre Dame boarding school when he
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was 14, in 1866, with the hopes of curtailing his unruliness. He didn’t last long at the school and was soon suspended; his parents next sent him to the University of Iowa and he was kicked out after one semester.

At the age of 19, Anson began to play baseball professionally for the National Association. He finished in the top five in batting in both 1872 and 1873 and had the best on-base percentage in 1872. His play was good enough that he ws signed to the Chicago White Stockings in 1876. However, the negotiations with Anson were held while the 1875 season was still in progress and, because of pending disciplinary actions, the team’s president founded the National League.

The White Stockings won the first league title in 1876, but fell off the pace the following two seasons. During this time, Anson was a solid hitter, but not quite a
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superstar. Both his fortunes and those of his team would change after Anson was named captain-manager of the club in 1879. With Anson pacing the way, the White Stockings won five pennants between 1880 and 1886. They were helped to the titles using new managerial tactics, including the rotation of two star pitchers. Anson is also credited with inventing the “hit and run” play, sending his team to warm climates for spring training. His players called him the ultimate teacher.

On the field, Anson was the team's best hitter and run producer. In the 1880s, he won two batting titles (1881, 1888) and finished second four times (1880, 1882, 1886-87). During the same period, he led the league in RBIs an incredible seven times (1880-82, 1884-86, 1888). His best season was in 1881, when he led the league in batting (.399), On-Base Percentage, (.442), hits (137), total bases (175), and RBIs (82). He also became the first player to hit three consecutive home runs, five homers in two games, and four doubles in a game, as well as being the first to perform two unassisted double plays in a game. He is one of only a few players to score six runs in a game, a feat accomplished on August 24, 1886.

Anson was as known for his racist views and once refused to play in an exhibition game against African-Americans. Despite this, Anson remained very popular in Chicago while playing for the White Stockings. Anson signed a ten year contract in 1888 to manage the White Stockings (which, because of a typographical error he failed to spot, ended after the 1897 season instead of the 1898 one), but his best years were behind him. He led the league in walks in 1890 and garnered his eighth and final RBI crown in 1891, but declined precipitously thereafter. On the managerial front, he failed to win another pennant. He also mellowed enough that his nicknames became "Uncle" and "Grandpa." When he was fired as manager after the 1897 season, it also marked the end of his 27-year playing career.

There is much controversy as to whether he became the first player ever to get 3,000 hits in a major league career; for many years, recognized statistics credited him with precisely that total. Researchers in the 1990s argued that he was incorrectly credited with extra hits in 1887, when bases on balls were counted as hits. Eliminating the 60 walks Anson received that year would drop his hit total to 2,995 according to statistics officially recognized by Major League Baseball. However, if one counts his 423 earlier hits in the National Association, the major leagues' predecessor (which Major League Baseball does), he is well over the mark. He was, by any standard, the first player to make 3,000 hits in his professional career. Major League Baseball recognizes him as seventh all time in hits.

Anson briefly made a return to baseball managing the New York Giants in June and July of 1898, but fully retired afterward. After a number of failed business attempts, he was elected city clerk of Chicago in 1905 and then, after serving one term, failed in the Democratic primary to become sheriff in 1907. After an unsuccessful attempt at owning/managing a semi-pro team, Anson began touring on the vaudeville circuit, which lasted up until about a year before his death on April 14, 1922.

Following a glandular ailment, Anson died at the age of 69 in Chicago, Illinois and was interred at the Oak Woods Cemetery in Chicago.

Anson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939, one of the first 19th-century players selected. Over 100 years after his retirement, he still holds several franchise records, including most career RBI, runs, hits, singles, and doubles.

Cap Anson