Top 106 Baseball Players: #69 - Cap Anson

Cap Anson

Cap Anson was the first great professional baseball player, with a career that spanned 27 seasons from 1871 to 1897, and was the first player ever to reach 3000 hits.

His career began with the Rockford Forest Citys in 1871 in the National Association, which is where he played his first 5 seasons, one in Rockford and 4 in Philadelphia with the Athletics. Many historians don't count these seasons as part of Major League Baseball, which is why there are differing opinions on the number of hits he had.

He joined the Chicago White Stockings (later to become the Cubs) in 1876, and he remained with the club for the remainder of his career. He earned his nickname Cap in 1879 when he was named captain and manager of the team. The team's nickname changed in 1890 after Anson sold all of his older players and brought in newer, younger blood, called "Colts" by the media, and the name stuck.

Anson was a machine throughout the 1880's, leading the league in RBI's 7 times during the decade, and he led the team to 5 league pennants as well. He is also credited with inventing the hit and run play, pitching rotations, and the third base coach, as well as racial segregation in professional baseball, unfortunately.

After 22 years in Chicago, the team owner decided that it was time to go in a different direction, but couldn't convince Anson to retire, so he was fired, and the media once again renamed the franchise, this time the Orphans, because they had lost their Captain.

If his time in the National Association is included, he finished with 3435 hits. Without, that number drops to 3081. Either way, he reached 3000 hits before any other player, and is number 7 all-time if they are all included. He is also #9 in runs scored and #4 in RBI's, a category in which he led the league 8 times total during his career, and he had a career batting average of .334, also in the top 25 all time.

While the time period in which he played was very different from today's game, there is no doubt that Anson was one of the great innovators that made baseball what it is today. While some of his ideas were terrible, particularly banning black players, many of his ideas are still in use today, and he was a very good player and manager for a very long time, and deserves a spot on the list of the all-time greats.