1894 by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview
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Page 91
season, it also marked the end of his 27 year playing career.
The following season, newspapers dubbed the Colts the "Orphans,"
as they had lost their "Pop."
Anson acted in ways that would not be tolerated today, because the sport's rules are stricter in certain respects. One was the relative freedom a captain had in his day to argue with the usually lone umpire. Also, starting in the latter 1880s, he often bet on baseball, mainly on his team's chances to win the pennant. And yet, he arguably stood out as the player with the greatest integrity. In that era, the big taboo was for players to take bribes to purposely lose games. Betting by players, managers, and owners was regarded as acceptable so long as they did not bet against their team doing well or associate with gamblers.
On corruption in sports, he said the following in 1891. "The time may have been, and probably was, when baseball was as rotten as horse racing, but that time has gone by. The men in control of baseball matters are of the highest personal character, and no one will say anything against them. As to the charges against any individual player, I will believe them when they have been proved. Everything possible has been done to protect the patrons of the National game, and efforts in that direction will never be abated. I don't know of any crookedness