Cap Anson

Baseball Player

• Born: April 17, 1852
• Birthplace: Marshall (now Marshalltown), Iowa
• Died: April 14, 1922
• Place of death: Chicago, Illinois

Sport: Baseball

Early Life

Adrian “Cap” Constantine Anson, the second son of Henry and Jeanette Anson, was born a year before his hometown of Marshalltown, then known as Marshall, was established. When Cap was seven, his mother died. At the age of fourteen, Cap, along with his older brother Sturgis, was enrolled in a preparatory program at the University of Notre Dame. Large for his age—he eventually grew to over 6 feet—Cap joined a school baseball team, the Juanitas, proving himself capable of competing with older boys. Cap’s father, a leading businessman and civic leader, established his own baseball team. During summers, both Cap and his brother earned spots on their father’s team.

The Road to Excellence

During the summer of 1870, the independent professional baseball team from Rockford, Illinois, arrived in Marshalltown for a game with the Ansons’ team, which had become the Iowa state champions. Led by star pitcher Albert Spalding, Rockford proved the toughest competition the Ansons had faced. Cap was particularly impressive in the field and at bat and was subsequently offered a contract by the Rockford team. In 1871, Rockford became part of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players (NAPBBP), the first all-professional baseball league and forerunner to the National League. Cap joined the team, thus becoming a professional athlete.

Following the season, the league champion Philadelphia Athletics offered Cap a substantial increase in salary, a proposal too lucrative to refuse. Cap played four seasons with Philadelphia and established himself as one of the league’s outstanding hitters. During these seasons, he became recognized for his hitting prowess. At 6 feet 2 inches and more than 200 pounds, Cap was literally a heavy hitter. He also was known for his abilities at billiards. His love of nightlife ended when he met, and eventually married, Virginia Fiegal, the daughter of a local bar owner.

In 1876, disputes between club owners and players, regarding player contracts, and problems with gamblers led to the dissolution of the NAPBBP. Subsequently, the National League was formed. Offered a substantial increase in salary by the Chicago White Stockings (now Chicago Cubs), Cap signed a contract with the team for the 1876 season. Because his fiancée strongly objected to a move from Philadelphia, Cap planned to remain with the team for only one season. However, Cap spent the remainder of his career in Chicago. In 1879, Cap became the manager for the White Stockings.

The Emerging Champion

Chicago had struggled through three consecutive losing seasons, but despite suffering a serious illness late in the year, Cap altered the club’s fortunes. The White Stockings finished fourth, with a record of 46-33. From 1880 through 1882, Chicago won consecutive pennants, and Cap established himself as a leading innovator in the league as a manager and hitter. Among the changes he implemented were the use of a pitching staff rather than a single pitcher and the positioning of players around the field to address various batters and situations. Not all his changes reflected well on the sport. Cap refused to compete with teams with African Americans. While Cap’s attitude was not the sole reason for the nearly seventy-year segregation policy that ensued in Major League Baseball, his influence in the matter was significant.

In both 1885 and 1886, Cap again led Chicago to league championships, tallying five pennants in seven years. Furthermore, three times during his years as manager, Cap won the league batting championship: 1879, 1887, and 1888. These seasons represented the high points of Cap’s career. In 1890, many of the players abandoned Cap and Chicago for the short-lived Players’ League. Though most of the athletes were reinstated following the demise of the league, Cap started anew with players who did not shift their loyalties. By the mid-1890’s, Chicago began a steady drop in the standings, and both players and management felt Cap’s career was finished. By that time, his career totals included more than 3,000 hits and a lifetime batting average of .333.

Continuing the Story

In February, 1898, after twenty-two years as a player and nineteen as a manager, Cap was “eased out” of organized baseball by team president Jim Hart. Cap’s name was mentioned for managerial positions in several other cities, notably Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and New York, but the only serious offer was from Andrew Freedman, owner of the New York Giants. In June, 1898, Cap became the Giants’ manager. However, Cap realized he had no tangible control over the team and by early July was out of the job, his last in professional baseball.

Cap was not wealthy upon retirement. In ensuing years, he opened, with mixed success, a billiard room and bowling hall. He became one of Chicago’s outstanding bowlers, served as president of a short-lived new major league, the American Association, and managed a local semiprofessional baseball team. He even found time to write the first sports autobiography. In 1905, Cap was elected to a two-year term as a city clerk.

Cap spent his last years entertaining on the vaudeville circuit, even appearing with his daughters, and attempted to pay off creditors who seemed to appear repeatedly. Refusing to accept charity, he again attempted, and failed, to manage a semiprofessional team. In April, 1922, Cap suffered a heart attack, dying three days before his seventieth birthday. In 1939, he was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Summary

Cap Anson was arguably baseball’s first superstar. He was the first to produce a career total of 3,000 base hits, though that precise number is in dispute because of the imprecision of record keeping during the period. As manager of the Chicago White Stockings, the original Cubs, he led the team to five pennants. His influence was felt not only in the all-white game he supported but also in the bigotry that led to an informal ban of African Americans in organized baseball.

Bibliography

Anson, Adrian. A Ball Players Career. Chicago: Era Publishing, 1900.

Fleitz, David. Cap Anson: The Grand Old Man of Baseball. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2005.

Rosenberg, Howard W. Cap Anson Four: Bigger than Babe Ruth—Captain Anson of Chicago. Arlington, Va.: Tile Books, 2006.

Seymour, Harold. Baseball: The Golden Age. New York: Oxford University Press, 1971.