Editing Cap Anson (section)

===Chicago White Stockings/Colts===
[[File:Cap Anson 1874 Philadelphia Team Portrait.png|right|thumb|Anson with Philadelphia in 1874]]
The White Stockings won the first league title, but fell off the pace the following two seasons. During this time, Anson was a solid hitter, but not quite a superstar. Both his fortunes and those of his team would change after Anson was named captain-manager of the club in 1879.

His new role led to the nickname "Cap",<ref name="Total Sports"/> though newspapers typically called him by the more formal "Captain Anson" or "Capt. Anson". 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 use of a third-base coach, having one fielder back up another, signaling batters, and the rotation of two star pitchers.<ref name="Total Sports"/><ref name=Wrigleyville/> In the first half of the 1880s, aided by speedy players like [[King Kelly|Mike Kelly]], Anson had his players aggressively run the bases, forcing the opposition into making errors. After the expression first became popular in the 1890s, he retroactively claimed to use some of the first "[[hit and run (baseball)|hit and run]]" plays.

Anson shares credit as an innovator of modern [[spring training]] along with the president of the Chicago club, [[A. G. Spalding|Albert Spalding]]. They were among the first to send their clubs to warmer climates in the South to prepare for the season, beginning in [[Hot Springs, Arkansas]], in 1886.<ref name=Wrigleyville/> 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, 1886–1887). During the same period, he led the league in [[runs batted in]] (RBIs) seven times (1880–82, 1884–86, 1888). His best season was in 1881, when he led the league in batting (.399), OBP (.442), OPS (.952), hits (137), total bases (175), and RBIs (82). He also became the first player to hit three consecutive [[home run]]s, five homers in two games, and four doubles in a game, as well as being the first to perform two unassisted [[double play]]s in a game. He is one of only a few players to score six runs in a game, [[List of Major League Baseball single-game runs scored leaders|a feat he accomplished on August 24, 1886]].

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 1898),<ref name="SABR" /><ref name=Wrigleyville/> 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. On the managerial front, he failed to win another pennant.

As the end of the 1880s approached, the club had begun trading away its stars in favor of young players, with the exception of the veteran Anson. Local newspapers had started to call the team "Anson's Colts", or just "Colts", before the decade was out. With the advent of the [[Players' League]] in 1890, what little talent the club still had was drained away, and the team nickname "Colts", though never official, became standard usage in the local media<ref name="SABR" /><ref>{{Cite book| last = Gold| first = Eddie| author2 = Art Ahrens| title = The Golden Era Cubs: 1876–1940| publisher = Bonus Books| year = 1985| page = [https://archive.org/details/goldeneracubs1870000gold/page/2 2]| isbn = 0-931028-66-3| url = https://archive.org/details/goldeneracubs1870000gold/page/2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| title = Chicago Defeated Again| newspaper = The New York Times| page = 3 | date = June 14, 1891| url = https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/06/14/106078113.pdf }}</ref> along with variants such as (Anson's) White Colts and (Anson's) Broncos.<ref name=Wrigleyville/>

He also mellowed enough that he became a fatherly figure and was often called "Pop".<ref name="Total Sports"/> When he was fired as manager after the 1897 season, it also marked the end of his 27-year playing career. The following season, newspapers dubbed the Colts the "Orphans", as they had lost their "Pop".<ref name="Total Sports"/><ref name=Wrigleyville/>