There is one thing certain, and that is that a rival to the National League will spring up sooner or later, and that without any help from Mr. Richter.
[CHAPTER XXXVIII. L'ENVOI.]
With my retirement from the Chicago Club in 1897, my active connection with the game may be said to have ceased and it is more that probable that I shall never again don a uniform. My affection for the game still exists, however, and I am confident that, purged of the many evils that now exist, the game itself will continue to be in the future what it has been in the past, the National Game of the American people.
Looking back over my twenty-seven years of active service on the diamond, I feel that I have but little to regret and much to be proud of, and if I failed at times to come us to the expectations of my friends, it was simply because I was heavily handicapped and unable to carry the load. For the gentlemen who have criticized my actions fairly and honestly I have naught but the kindest feelings, and for those who did not and who criticized simply to be in the fashion, or because they were advised to do so by those in authority over them, I have—but perhaps it is as well to "let the dead past bury its dead." The League Guide of 1898 contains an article on my retirement, from the pen of the veteran, Henry Chadwick, that I am particularly proud of, and a portion of which I quote, as follows:
"Professional base-ball history records the development of many an original character in the ranks alike of its press-writers, its club magnates, and its most noteworthy players; but it can be safely said that its most unique figure can be found in the person of the League's greatest representative on the field, Adrian Constantine Anson, who today stands forth as one of the most sturdy, fearless and honest exemplars of professional base-ball known to the game. The bright particular attribute of Anson is his sterling integrity, combined with which is his thorough independence. The former was strikingly illustrated at the very outset of his career as a member of the Chicago Club in 1876, when he kept true to his agreement with the club, though under the base-ball law as it then existed the club could not, enforce its contract; and his independence was plainly exhibited in the act of his refusing this year to accept a money testimonial at the hands of his base-ball friends, he preferring to depend upon his existing physical powers for his maintenance rather than upon the proffered financial aid.
"In some respects Anson resembles a rough diamond, his brusque manner and impulsive temper needing the keen polish of the refining wheel of the conventional amenities of life to make his inherent worth shine forth in its full brilliancy. Anson, too, reminds one somewhat of that old Western pioneer, Davy Crockett, inasmuch as his practical motto is, 'When you know you're right, go ahead.' This latter trait was conspicuously shown in the year of the players' revolt in 1890, when, almost alone as a minority man, he stood by the National League in its greatest hour of need, in opposition to the desertion of hundreds of his confreres in the League ranks. In these prominent characteristics, we say, Anson stands as the most unique player known in the annals of the professional fraternity."
This is indeed praise from Sir Hubert, and I raise my hat in recognition.
What I may conclude to do in the future it is hard to say, and if I return again to my first love, base-ball, it will not be as a player, but wherever I may be or whatever I may do I shall still strive to merit the approval and good will of my friends—God bless them!