Cap Anson

He never played a game in baseball’s “modern” era. But Adrian Constantine “Cap” Anson was one of the great modernizers of the game, bringing strategy and leadership to the National Pastime. Anson, born April 17, 1852 in Marshalltown, Iowa, spent a year at the University of Notre dame before making his big league debut in the first year of the first pro league: The National Association of 1871. Anson was a 19-year-old third baseman for the Rockford Forest Citys, and the 6-foot, 227-pound strapping right-hander hit .325 with a league-leading 11 doubles. The next season, Anson hit .415 for the Philadelphia Athletics of the NA, driving in 48 runs in just 46 games.

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A Cap Anson biography by Baseball Almanac.

Major League Baseball Umpire. Between 1894 and 1890, he pitched in the American Association and the National League which later hired him in 1895. He worked the First World Series in 1903 and would work nine more in his tenure. He was the senior umpire behind home plate at the Polo Grounds in which Fred Merkle committed his boner which cost the New York Giants the League pennant to the Chicago Cubs in 1908. He would go on to umpire over 2,700 games in over a thirty year career ending in 1927. (bio by: Robert)

Cap Anson career batting statistics for Major League, Minor League, and postseason baseball

Cap Anson baseball stats with batting stats, pitching stats and fielding stats, along with uniform numbers, salaries, quotes, career stats and biographical data presented by Baseball Almanac.

The life and times of Adrian 'Cap' Anson, baseball's first superstar and a Chicago legend.

Chapter 4: Cap's Great Shame - Racial Intolerance

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Cap Anson, baseball's first superstar, was the dominant on-field figure of nineteenth-century baseball. He was a small-town boy from Iowa who earned his fame as the playing manager of the fabled Chicago White Stockings, the National League team now known as the Cubs. A larger-than-life figure of great talents and great faults, Anson managed the White Stockings to five pennants and set all the batting records that men such as Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth later broke. Anson was the second manager (after Harry Wright) to win 1,000 games and the first player to stroke 3,000 hits (though his exact total varies from one source to another). Although he retired from active play in 1897, he is still the all-time leader in hits, runs scored, doubles, and runs batted in for the Chicago franchise.

Adrian Constantine Anson (April 17, 1852 – April 14, 1922), nicknamed "Cap" (for "Captain") and "Pop", was a Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman. Including his time in the National Association (NA), he played a record 27 consecutive seasons.[3] Anson was regarded as one of the greatest players of his era and one of the first superstars of the game.[4] Anson spent most of his career with the Chicago Cubs franchise (then known as the "White Stockings" and later the "Colts"), serving as the club's manager, first baseman and, later in his tenure, minority owner. He led the team to five National League pennants in the 1880s. Anson was one of baseball's first great hitters, and probably the first to tally over 3,000 career hits.

Career: 97 HR, .334 BA (24th), 2075 RBI (4th), 1B/3B/C, HOF in 1939, WhiteStockings/Colts/... 1871-1897, b:R/t:R, 8x RBI Leader, born in IA 1852, died 1922