Happy 170 years, Cap "the Swede" Anson

[Orioles1954]

What differentiates Anson from Cobb, Chase and other “men of their times” is that only one was instrumental in a “gentleman’s agreement” that barred thousands of Black ball players and denied them a livelihood. These days we sometimes read of institutional racism and it doesn’t really mean much. However, a 60-year ban is exactly what Anson perpetuated hook, line and sinker.

[GaryPassamonte]

Anson surely played a role in segregating baseball, but there is a lot of blame falling on those who ran baseball for the next 60 years. Is Anson any worse than those who came after him?

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

These days we sometimes read of institutional racism and it doesn’t really mean much.

The fact that black men in the US are now allowed to do things they were previously prevented by white men from doing does not mean that institutional racism in the US no longer exists.

[RUKen]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

What differentiates Anson from Cobb, Chase and other “men of their times” is that only one was instrumental in a “gentleman’s agreement” that barred thousands of Black ball players and denied them a livelihood. ...a 60-year ban is exactly what Anson perpetuated hook, line and sinker.

Anson was a player and team captain who refused to allow his team to play exhibition games against teams from other leagues who would put a black player on the field. Many professional ballplayers were bigots who would go out of their way to injure black players on opposing teams, but most did not have the financial security of Anson to refuse to play with or against a black man. The rules of organized baseball, written and unwritten, for league play were devised by executives and team owners, not players, who were generally powerless. There is little justification to pin the exclusion of African-Americans from organized baseball through the mid 1940s on Anson, who last played in 1897, last managed in 1898, and died in 1922.