Player Spotlight: Cap Anson

Do you know what July 18th is?  It is the 101st anniversary of the 3,000 hit club.  Back in 1897, Cap Anson became this first player in history to obtain over 3,000 hits. 

Cap Anson made his MLB debut on May 6, 1871 for the Rockford Forest Citys.  During his career he played for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago White Stockings/Colts.  Anson racked up a career batting average of .333 with 3,418 hits and 2,076 RBI’s.  You could consider Anson as one of baseball’s first superstars.  To this day he still holds club records such as most career RBI’s, runs, hits, singles, and doubles.  Cap Anson, with the assistance of Richard Carey, Jr, wrote a book about his life titled “A Ball Player’s Career: Being the Personal Reminiscences of Adrian C. Anson.  This book is considered the first baseball autobiography.  In 1939 Anson was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 

If you are looking to collect Cap Anson memorabilia, you might need some deep pockets.  Most of his original cards from the 19th and early 20th centuries sell in the high hundreds and into the many thousands depending on what you are looking to buy.  In today’s hobby, you can find base cards of Anson in such products as Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts which are only worth a couple of dollars.  There are no memorabilia cards that contain bat, pants, or jersey pieces.  Topps and Upper Deck have made a couple of cut signature cards.  In 2004 Topps made a product called Topps Tribute HOF Cut Signature Edition, where they inserted a cut signature card for every member of the Hall of Fame serial numbered 1/1.  Upper Deck has made the most Cap Anson cut signature cards.  The 2001 Legendary Cuts – Cut Signature is #’ed/2, 2003 Legendary Cuts #’ed/1, 2004 Legendary Cuts #’ed/1, and 2005 Legendary Cuts #’ed/1.  Whenever these cut signatures show up for sale, they usually sell well into the thousands.  Anson is one of the most collected 19th century players and its great that after all these years his cards are still in such high demand.