1895 Chicago, Anson Special

This rendering is based on visual documentation for uniform style only. An educated guess is made on uniform color based on documentation from a related year and also on minor details that may be missing or difficult to determine.

Rendering accuracy: Year: documented

Visual documentation on this uniform:

Photo A

Dated April 1895 to November 1895. Photo of Cap Anson (Chi 76-97) in a Chicago uniform, full view at left, detail view at right. This photo was most likely taken as a promotional image for the baseball-themed stage play “A Runaway Colt.” The play was performed between November 1895 and January 1896 and starred Anson in his theatrical debut. Anson played a role similar to real life, that of player-manager for the Chicago baseball team, and it was reported that he appeared in several scenes on stage wearing a baseball uniform. No detailed description of the uniform Anson wore has been found to date. However a drawing made from photo A was published in a newspaper along with a review of the play on November 26, 1895, see drawing below. This confirmed that the photo of Anson, often undated in later published works, was made before this date. It is possible the photo was taken between the end of the regular season in October 1895 and the beginning of the performances in mid-November 1895. Additionally, the uniform Anson wore in photo A did not match any photographic or written documentation of the actual Chicago uniforms from either the 1895 or 1896 NL seasons. Anson wore a white uniform in this photo. The pillbox cap, shirt lettering and laces, belt and stockings were all dark in color, most likely black. Black was the accent color for the Chicago team from 1888-1893. In 1894 and 1895 Chicago wore white stockings and a shirt with no lettering. All of this points to the likelihood that the uniform Anson wore in photo A was made specifically for use in the stage production.

As stated above, photo A was taken no later than November 1895. It can also be suggested that the earliest this photo was taken was late April 1895 — and this date can be suggested by Anson’s missing mustache. Sometime between mid-March 1895 and April 10, 1895, the Chicago team was photographed while at spring training in Galveston, Texas. In this team photo Anson and seven of his teammates wore mustaches. Photographic evidence showed that Anson had worn his mustache since the early 1880s. However by late April 1895 when the team returned to Chicago, it was reported that “Anson has shaved off his mustache” with one newspaper noting that “all the [Chicago] Colts have shaved.” Anson played professional baseball since 1871, however photos of him clean-shaven at the end of his career can therefore be dated as late April 1895 or after.

“A Runaway Colt” was created and written by Charles H. Hoyt. The idea was formulated between Hoyt and promoter Frank McGee in June of 1895 to capitalize on the popularity of Anson, who was in the final years of his career. Anson agreed to perform though he had no stage experience. The play was first previewed in Syracuse at the Wieting Opera House on November 12, 1895. One newspaper noted that the storyline “showed more merit in the play than one would suppose.” On this first night it was noted that Anson “did not remember his lines” and that “with the aid of a prompter he got through to the satisfaction of the audience. He was frequently cheered.” For the formal opening the following night, a reporter wrote that the theatre was “filled with base ball cranks of both high and low degree” and that upon his first appearance on stage Anson received “an ovation so warm that he was caught off his base, and everything was awry,” though shortly thereafter “he soon recovered.” After quick stops in Buffalo, Oswego NY and Troy NY, the production came to Brooklyn and opened at the Montauk Theatre on November 25, 1895. A newspaper ad that day for “A Runaway Colt” described the play as a “laughable hit” with “elaborate scenic effects.” The final act of the play was a portrayal of the bottom of the ninth inning in a game between the Chicago Colts and the Baltimore Orioles, and where Anson, in uniform, delivers the winning run for Chicago. One report said the production featured “considerably accurate” off-stage sound effects that included “the muffled sound of the ball striking the catcher’s glove and the crack of the ball hit by the bat.” Anson’s wife, Virginia, travelled with the show and did Anson’s make-up each night. Several baseball notables were in the production for certain performances, including players Arlie Latham and Parke Wilson, umpire Tim Hurst and “scorecard king” Harry Stevens. After Brooklyn, the production moved to the American Theatre in Manhattan beginning on December 2, 1895. One report during this time stated that Anson “has not much to do except when he is clad in his baseball uniform, and then he is decidedly more at ease than when attired in a dress suit.” After several weeks in New York the play moved to the Grand Opera House in Chicago, opening on December 23, 1895. A reporter commented on the Chicago performance, noting that when Anson “comes on in uniform. You wouldn’t know him. Acting has done its work with a vengeance and the erstwhile bulky Anson is lean as long [Duke] Jantzen or Connie Mack. […] There is not even the suspicion of a stomach on the old man, and his legs look as slim as Davy Foutz’s underpinnings.” After Chicago, the play was scheduled to go to St. Paul and then Lincoln Nebraska, but apparently folded in St. Paul in early January where the schedule was reduced to a single matinee and evening performance. A newspaper noted that “Anson’s show will close in Minneapolis for the season, and probably forever. ‘Anse’ drew poorly in Chicago and Hoyt and McKee saw no future.” Anson was paid well for his thespian efforts. One reporter wrote as the tour began, “if Captain Anson makes $75,000 instead of $15,000 on the stage this winter, no one will begrudge him the money. Few and far between are the enemies of the G. O. M. in baseball.”

Years Anson with Chicago from baseball-reference.com. Information on “A Runaway Colt” from The Sporting Life, November 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30, 1895, December 7, 14, 21 and 28, 1895, and January 4 and 11, 1896, from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 25 and 26, 1895, and from the New York Clipper, December 7, 1895. Research contributions from Ed Morton. Report of Anson shaving from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 23, 1895, research from Tom Shieber, and from The Sporting Life, April 27 and May 18, 1895.

Photo B

Dated November 26, 1895. Drawing of Cap Anson, full view at left and detail view at right. This drawing was based on photo A and was published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle on this day. The drawing was published in association with a review of the play “A Runaway Colt” and confirmed that the photographic image of Anson, photo A, was made in 1895. This drawing also showed that the shirt had a breast pocket. Image from Ed Morton.

Photo C

Dated April 1895 to November 1895. Photo of Cap Anson (Chi 76-97), full view at left and detail view at right, taken at the same session as photo A. In this version, the studio background had been retouched to almost black. The detail view showed the faint white stitching of the placket surrounding the shirt laces and the hint of a shirt pocket. Years Anson with Chicago from baseball-reference.com.

Photo D

Dated January 5, 1896. Drawing of Cap Anson, right, based on photo C and published in the St. Paul Globe on this date in association with a story about the stage play, “A Runaway Colt.” Image from Ed Morton.

Photos E & F

Left, dated November 1895 and right, dated December 1895. Two drawings published in newspapers to illustrate stories about the stage play “A Runaway Colt.” Left, from the Buffalo Courier, November 17, 1895, and right, from the New York Herald, December 3, 1895. While the Buffalo illustration was clearly of Anson, the Herald illustration, most likely made from a photo taken on stage in New York, did not bear any facial resemblance to Anson and instead was probably based on a photo of major-leaguer Arlie Latham, who also performed in the play. The uniform in the Herald illustration was very similar to the one shown in photo A. Images from Ed Morton.

Photo G

Undated memento. Montage of December 1895 newspaper clipping advertising “A Runaway Colt” at the American Theatre in Manhattan, also partially shown in detail view at right, and a photo of Cap Anson. The photo of Anson was the same image as shown above in photo A. The combination of these two items together in this framed memento suggested the two items were from the same time period.

Photos H & I

Dated 1900. Two visuals from Cap Anson’s autobiography, A Ball Player’s Career, published in 1900. Left, the book’s cover featuring a drawing of Anson based on photo A. Right, an inside page showing a reproduction of photo A. No mention of the original 1895 photo date or the play was given with this image, possibly beginning a long history of this photo being undated.

Written documentation on this uniform:
None