Baseball Player

Superstar.

Adrian Constantine "Cap" Anson was baseball's first superstar. The first player to reach 3,000 career hits, he maintained a batting average of .300 or better for eighteen seasons and played twenty-seven seasons in the major leagues, more than any other player. In 1869 Anson played on the Marshalltown (Iowa) High School baseball team. After a year at Notre Dame University, he became the third baseman for the Rockford Forest Cities (Illinois) of the National Association in 1871 and led the club with a batting average of .352. In 1872 Anson joined the Philadelphia Athletics and batted over .350 for the next four seasons. When the National League formed in 1876, the Chicago White Stockings secretly signed him for $2,000, but Philadelphia counteroffered with $2,500, and he remained in Philadelphia.

The White Stockings.

Anson joined the Chicago White Stockings in 1877 and remained with the team until 1897. A first baseman, he became...