Chicago Colts

Chicago Colts

By the late 1880s, the Chicago White Stockings had taken to trading away many of its start players in favor of younger ones, with the exclusion of longtime manager Cap Anson. As a result, the press took to referring to the team as either Anson's Colts, (Anson's) White Colts, (Anson's) Broncos or just play Colts. The team was never officially known as the Chicago Colts. While the Colts continued to decline in the 1890s, Anson found success in a Broadway play called 'A Runaway Colt' which premiered in December of 1895. Back in Chicago, Anson's position with the team, both as team manager and minority owner, was in the decline when Al Spalding stepped down as president of the club following the 1891. It has been said that had Anson stepped down as manager, he might have taken over as president, but with Spalding still in control of the club, he went with Jim Hart as president. There was no love lost between Hart and Anson. Hart had served as business manager for Spalding during the team's World Tour four years previously, and the two would clash over personnel and disciplinary matters during the rest of Anson's tenure. The next year Spalding and Hart reorganized the club. Anson would retain his 13% of the team, but his managerial contract was cut from being 10 years with the team. Nevertheless Anson's contract with the team expired on February 1, 1898, and was let go from the team. As a result, the press took to referring to the team as the Chicago Orphans. The Colts' nickname would be brought back for a short time during Frank Selee's tenure with the team.

Source:

• Peter Golenbock: Wrigleyville: A Magical History Tour of the Chicago Cubs. New York: St. Martin's Griffin (1997)
• Art Ahrens: Chicago Cubs: Tinker to Evers to Chance, Arcadia Publishing, 2007
• Anson's Colts
• Cap Anson
• Selee's Colts