A Ball Player's Career by Adrian Constantine Anson
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A BALL PLAYER'S CAREER
Being the PERSONAL EXPERIENCES AND REMINISCENCES of ADRIAN C. ANSON Late Manager and Captain of the Chicago Base Ball Club
1900
To My Father Henry Anson of Marshalltown, Iowa, to whose early training and sound advice I owe my fame
CONTENTS
CHAP.
I.--MY BIRTHPLACE AND ANCESTRY.
II.--DAYS AT MARSHALLTOWN
III.--SOME FACTS ABOUT THE NATIONAL GAME
IV.--FURTHER FACTS AND FIGURES
V.--THE GAME AT MARSHALLTOWN
VI.--My EXPERIENCE AT ROCKFORD
VII.--WITH THE ATHLETICS OF PHILADELPHIA
VIII.--SOME MINOR DIVERSIONS
IX.--WE BALL PLAYERS Go ABROAD
X.--THE ARGONAUTS OF 1874
XI.--I WIN ONE PRIZE AND OTHERS FOLLOW
XII.--WITH THE NATIONAL LEAGUE
XIII.--FROM FOURTH PLACE TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP
XIV.--THE CHAMPIONS OF THE EARLY '80S
XV.--WE FALL DOWN AND RISE AGAIN
XVI.--BALL PLAYERS EACH AND EVERY ONE
XVII.--WHILE FORTUNE FROWNS AND SMILES
XVIII.--FROM CHICAGO TO DENVER
XIX.--FROM DENVER TO SAN FRANCISCO
XX.--TWO WEEKS IN CALIFORNIA
XXI.--WE VISIT THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
XXII.--FROM HONOLULU TO AUSTRALIA
XXIII.--WITH OUR FRIENDS IN THE ANTIPODES
XXIV.--BALL PLAYING AND SIGHT-SEEING IN AUSTRALIA
XXV.--AFLOAT ON THE INDIAN SEA
XXVI.--FROM CEYLON TO EGYPT
XXVII.--IN THE SHADOW OF THE PYRAMIDS
XXVIII.--THE BLUE SKIES OF ITALY
XXIX.--OUR VISIT TO LA BELLE FRANCE
XXX.--THROUGH ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND IRELAND
XXXI.--"HOME, SWEET HOME"
XXXII.--THE REVOLT OF THE BROTHERHOOD
XXXIII.--MY LAST YEARS ON THE BALL FIELD
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Ball Player's Career by Adrian Constantine Anson
- 2: They traced their lineage back to William Anson
- 3: It being named after the town of Marshall in Michigan
- 4: And each of them armed with a tomahawk
- 5: But nevertheless Adrian Constantine I was christened
- 6: My father kept a hotel known as the Anson House
- 7: The larder of the hotel was well stocked
- 8: The public square at Marshalltown
- 9: The Knickerbockers played at Hoboken for many years
- 10: The champion nine of the Eckford Club in 1863 were Sprague
- 11: Berkenstock and Pike giving way to Radcliff
- 12: The growth of the professional class of players
- 13: The Kekiongas disbanded in July
- 14: Barnes and Schafer on the bases
- 15: Scored by any one batsman amounted to twenty
- 16: For the Athletics against the Alerts
- 17: The Marshalltown team beat and who it did not
- 18: The game was played at Marshalltown
- 19: He let Al Spalding do about as he pleased
- 20: The team from Clinton had to get along without my services
- 21: Conspicuous among them being Hiram Waldo
- 22: The Rockford team was not a strong one
- 23: After he left Rockford he went to Chicago
- 24: This was much better than I was doing at Rockford
- 25: The nine that season being made up as follows McGeary
- 26: Boston carried off the championship honors
- 27: They have been summarily dismissed from the ranks
- 28: Fisler fifth with 112 yards 6 inches
- 29: I towered over McLean like a mountain over a mole hill
- 30: Arriving at the police station
- 31: Spalding Pitcher Jas
- 32: The Sheffield Club at Sheffield
- 33: It is in fact the cricket of the American continent
- 34: Manchester and Dublin by large scores
- 35: Spalding has acquired a world wide reputation
- 36: He was a fairly good outfielder
- 37: McMullen was an all around good fellow
- 38: A successful athlete must be the possessor of courage
- 39: And then it was at a club ball
- 40: And the proud mother of Anson McNeal Clough
- 41: Hulbert was the President of the Chicago Base Ball Club
- 42: The list including Harry Wright
- 43: It was anything to beat Chicago
- 44: And we brought up the tail end of the pennant race
- 45: A good fielder and a first class wielder of the ash
- 46: Remsen and George Schaffer in the field
- 47: And Quest led the second basemen
- 48: And that the landing of the championship
- 49: If my memory serves me rightly
- 50: Goldy was working like a Trojan
- 51: Was another player who came to us from the Indianapolis team
- 52: He was only an ordinary fielder
- 53: Hugh Nichols was a little fellow who came from Rockford
- 54: And of all other eligible players
- 55: At the close of the season Corcoran
- 56: While Chicago won only 15 out of 19
- 57: The championship games in Philadelphia
- 58: The members of that famous infield were Williamson
- 59: While as a batsman he was only fair
- 60: He was a good fielder and a strong and accurate thrower
- 61: A mascot of whom we were exceedingly proud
- 62: Their places being taken by Pittsburg and Indianapolis
- 63: Washington and Indianapolis finishing in the order named
- 64: Pfeffer and Burns on the bases
- 65: 000 people on the League grounds at Chicago
- 66: To be played at Minneapolis the following day
- 67: At 6 30 that evening we left Cedar Rapids for Des Moines
- 68: And especially if Miss Jarbeau should run across him
- 69: Combined with the rarefied atmosphere
- 70: And we left the Colorado metropolis with many regrets
- 71: 200 people at Colorado Springs was a miserable one
- 72: Until we finally reached Sacramento
- 73: Better known by his soubriquet of Lucky Baldwin
- 74: Tener for Chicago and Daly for Stockton
- 75: And by that I mean the Chicago team
- 76: During our stay President Spalding
- 77: Spalding and the Australian Trip
- 78: Though I have been seasick at times
- 79: Its passengers were ignorant of the result
- 80: Spalding had met the Liverpool
- 81: Passing by the palace of King Kalakuau on the way
- 82: Minister Morrill introduced Mr
- 83: A really beautiful Hawaiian girl
- 84: Three more for our Honolulu friends
- 85: I said to Wright the afternoon after we had left Honolulu
- 86: We sighted the Northernmost Island of the Samoan group
- 87: Who had been detained at Sydney
- 88: When the Alameda left the dock at Auckland that afternoon
- 89: Williamson and his wife appeared
- 90: Here his Honor turned toward Ned Hanlan
- 91: That banquet at Sydney was certainly a memorable affair
- 92: Acting United States Consul Smyth and Mr
- 93: At the invitation of Manager Musgrove
- 94: Spalding that I was already acquainted with
- 95: Both Teller and Healy being severely punished
- 96: That afternoon we left for Ballarat
- 97: The foot ball game between the Carleton and St
- 98: We took the train for Port Melbourne
- 99: Was possessed of unlimited funds
- 100: And the body of the Hindoo sank down into the dark waters
- 101: With Fogarty as the presiding Judge
- 102: Spalding and Leigh Lynch went ashore in search of news
- 103: And which is a much lighter and smaller vehicle
- 104: The procession out to the Colombo Cricket Grounds
- 105: Of which Lynch and Fogarty were the authors
- 106: Which left at nine o'clock for Suez
- 107: Cairo looks like a scene from the Arabian Nights
- 108: Anson and I drove out in search of a theater
- 109: The Pyramids will be inspected
- 110: Which is the place where the Khedive worships
- 111: The night we left Ismalia and started for Port Said
- 112: The day before United States Consul Camphausen
- 113: Spalding and his mother going on without us
- 114: And I was just as busily engaged in blocking his little game
- 115: The ride from Florence to Nice
- 116: As does everybody that goes to Monte Carlo
- 117: Its theaters made famous by the great Rachael
- 118: I had had slight attacks of seasickness before
- 119: Anson some time to recover from
- 120: Healy and Baldwin did the twirling
- 121: We were driven to the Gloucester Cricket Grounds
- 122: At nine o'clock the next morning we left for Sheffield
- 123: Tener and Healy doing the twirling
- 124: Over which the Mayor of Belfast presided
- 125: Though I kissed the blarney stone
- 126: As soon as the Starin was made fast
- 127: Have the most remarkable pugilists
- 128: They always milk her on the larboard
- 129: Richter occupied the chairman's seat
- 130: Harrison responded to the toast
- 131: Williamson and myself in the infield
- 132: Spalding declined to meet the Brotherhood players until fall
- 133: Signed THE NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF BALL PLAYERS
- 134: Pittsburg and Chicago were consolidated
- 135: Cooney and Wilmot being the pick of the bunch
- 136: Had it not been for strong drink
- 137: Gumbert and Luby having been released
- 138: Again walked away with the championship
- 139: Kittridge and Donohue as catchers
- 140: Assistance of President Hart is now a matter of history
- 141: Spalding made arrangements with James A
- 142: Spalding certainly deceived me
- 143: Spalding will erect suitable structures
- 144: Spalding to dispose of some of his holdings
- 145: Hart and myself were the only stockholders present
- 146: Callie Curtis and others were the leading fancy skaters
- 147: The proprietor started down cellar to investigate
- 148: The Young Napoleon of Billiards
- 149: Slosson's billiard room on Monroe street
- 150: And Gallagher won by seventeen points
- 151: Talking does not win at billiards
- 152: Quinn and Alderman O'Brien of Milwaukee
- 153: McGraw of Baltimore was also on hand looking over the ground
- 154: Numerous telegrams failed to locate Navin of Detroit
- 155: The terms of which McGraw has refused to ratify
- 156: In some respects Anson resembles a rough diamond
- 157: This was urged as a reason for the retirement of Anson
- 158: It will owe a debt to Captain Anson
- 159: The Chicago man gives little thought to the morrow
- 160: The name Anson means athletics
- 161: Captain Adrianapolis Chicago Anson