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

XXXIV.-IF THIS BE TREASON, MAKE THE MOST OF IT

XXXV.—HOW MY WINTERS WERE SPENT

XXXVI-WITH THE KNIGHTS OF THE CUE

XXXVII-NOT DEAD, BUT SLEEPING

XXXVIII.—L'ENVOI

CHAPTER I. MY BIRTHPLACE AND ANCESTRY.

The town of Marshalltown, the county seat of Marshall County, in the great State of Iowa, is now a handsome and flourishing place of some thirteen or fourteen thousand inhabitants. I have not had time