Editing Cap Anson (section)

{{Short description|American baseball player (1852–1922)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
|name=Cap Anson
|image=Cap Anson Chicago.jpg
|position=[[First baseman]]
|birth_date={{Birth date|1852|4|17}}
|birth_place=[[Marshalltown, Iowa]], U.S.
|death_date ={{Death date and age|1922|4|14|1852|4|17}}
|death_place=[[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]], U.S.
|bats=Right
|throws=Right
|debutleague = MLB
|debutdate=May 6
|debutyear=1871
|debutteam=Rockford Forest Citys
|finalleague = MLB
|finaldate=October 3
|finalyear=1897
|finalteam=Chicago Colts
|statleague = MLB
|stat1label=[[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
|stat1value=.334
|stat2label=[[Hit (baseball)|Hits]]
|stat2value=3,435
|stat3label=[[Home run]]s
|stat3value=97
|stat4label=[[Run batted in|Runs batted in]]
|stat4value=2,075
|stat5label=Managerial record 
|stat5value=1,295–947
|stat6label=Winning %
|stat6value={{winning percentage|1295|947}}
|teams=
'''As player'''
* [[Rockford Forest Citys]] ({{Baseball year|1871}})
* [[Philadelphia Athletics (1860–76)|Philadelphia Athletics]] ({{Baseball year|1872}}–{{Baseball year|1875}})
* [[Chicago Cubs|Chicago White Stockings / Colts]] ({{Baseball year|1876}}–{{Baseball year|1897}})
'''As manager'''
* [[Philadelphia Athletics (1860–76)|Philadelphia Athletics]] ({{Baseball year|1875}})
* [[Chicago Cubs|Chicago White Stockings / Colts]] ({{Baseball year|1879}}–{{Baseball year|1897}})
* [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] ({{Baseball year|1898}})
|highlights=
* 2× [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions|NL batting champion]] (1881, 1888)
* 8× [[List of Major League Baseball annual runs batted in leaders|NL RBI leader]] (1880–1882, 1884–1886, 1888, 1891)
|hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
|hoftype = National
|hofdate=[[1939 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1939]]
|hofmethod=Old-Timers Committee
| module             = {{Infobox officeholder|embed=yes
| office              = [[City Clerk of Chicago]]
| term_start          = 1905
| term_end            = 1907
| predecessor         = [[Fred C. Bender]]
| successor          = John R. McCabe
}}
}}
'''Adrian Constantine Anson''' (April 17, 1852&nbsp;– April 14, 1922), nicknamed "'''Cap'''" (for "Captain"), "'''Pop'''", and "'''Baby'''" (early in his career) was an American [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) [[first baseman]]. Including his time in the [[National Association of Professional Base Ball Players|National Association]] (NA), he played a record 27 consecutive seasons.<ref name="brseasonleaders">{{cite web| title = Most Seasons Played | work = Baseball-Reference.com | url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/leaders_most_seasons.shtml | access-date = November 22, 2006 }} (Note that [[Nolan Ryan]]'s 27 seasons are not consecutive.)</ref> Anson was regarded as one of the greatest players of his era and one of the first superstars of the game.<ref name="SABR">{{cite web |title=Cap Anson |work=Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Biography Project |first=David L. |last=Fleitz |url=http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=1257&pid=305 |access-date=January 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120107015052/http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=1257&pid=305 |archive-date=January 7, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He spent most of his career with the [[Chicago Cubs|Chicago White Stockings/Colts]] franchise (now known as the Cubs), serving as the club's manager, first baseman and, later in his tenure, minority owner. He led the team to six [[National League (baseball)|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. In addition to being a star player, he innovated managerial tactics such as signals between players and the rotation of pitchers.<ref name="Total Sports">{{Cite book |author1=Pietrusza, David |author2=Matthew Silverman |author3=Gershman, Michael |title=Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia |publisher=Total Sports |location=New York |year=2000 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/baseballbiograph00matt/page/29 29–31] |isbn=1-892129-34-5
|url=https://archive.org/details/baseballbiograph00matt/page/29 }}</ref>

Anson played a role in establishing the [[baseball color line|racial segregation in professional baseball]] that persisted until the late 1940s.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/its-time-for-baseball-to-acknowledge-cap-ansons-role-in-erecting-a-color-barrier/2015/12/02/b9b97eb8-9916-11e5-94f0-9eeaff906ef3_story.html |title=It's time for baseball to own Cap Anson's role in erecting a color barrier |date=2015-12-02 |author1=[[Kevin Blackistone|Kevin B. Blackistone]] |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Achorn |first=Edward |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/811598827 |title=The summer of beer and whiskey : how brewers, barkeeps, rowdies, immigrants, and a wild pennant fight made baseball America's game |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-61039-260-0 |location=New York |oclc=811598827}}</ref> On several occasions, Anson refused to take the field when the opposing roster included black players. His demands may have been cited as representative of player attitudes by team owners of the International League (top tier of the minor leagues) when they voted on July 14, 1887 to ban the signing of new contracts with black players.<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=New York Times|title=He Was a Black Star 60 Years Before Jackie|date=December 6, 2021|last=Hoffman|first=Benjamin| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/06/sports/baseball/bud-fowler-hall-of-fame.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-time-cutoff-20&block=trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=642358948&impression_id=87464f74-56c9-11ec-8427-437ab29b4c4f&index=1&pgtype=Article&pool=pool%2F91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1&region=footer&req_id=608913275&surface=eos-most-popular-story&variant=3_bandit-all-surfaces-time-cutoff-20 | access-date=December 6, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Rosenberg|first=Howard W.|title=Cap Anson 4: Bigger Than Babe Ruth: Captain Anson of Chicago|publisher=Tile Books|year=2006|page=560|isbn=978-0-9725574-3-6}}, p. 443 and {{cite web|last=Rosenberg|title=Fantasy Baseball: The Momentous Drawing of the Sport's 19th-Century 'Color Line' is still Tripping up History Writers|url= https://howardwrosenberg.atavist.com/racism-bbhistory}}, The Atavist, June 14, 2016.  By a 6-to-4 vote, on July 14, 1887, the International League’s entirely white teams voted in favor of the ban and those with at least one black player voted in the negative.  The Binghamton, N.Y., team, which had just released its two black players, voted with the majority.  Right after the vote, the sports weekly Sporting Life stated, “Several representatives declared that many of the best players in the league are anxious to leave on account of the colored element, and the board finally directed Secretary [C.D.] White to approve of no more contracts with colored men.”</ref>

After retiring as a player and leaving the Colts, Anson briefly managed the [[New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]]. He ran several enterprises in Chicago, including opening a billiards and bowling hall and running a semi-professional baseball team he dubbed "Anson's Colts". Anson also toured extensively on the vaudeville circuit, performing monologues and songs. Many of his business ventures failed. As a result, Anson lost his ownership stake in the Colts (by then known as the Cubs) and filed for bankruptcy. In [[1939 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1939]], Anson was inducted into the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|National Baseball Hall of Fame]].