Lucky Hall Of Famer Number 4 - Cap Anson

    Cap Anson is in the Hall of Fame on account of his immense playing and managing skills, but he did much more to hurt baseball than to help it. He was widely known as a racist, refusing to play against black players, even in exhibition matches. This helped to start segregation in baseball. This was a serious issue and the worst fault in baseball history. Even though Cap Anson would have been worthy of the Hall as a player he did too much to ruin America's National Pastime. 

    As a player, there is no doubt that Anson played like a Hall of Famer. He had a career batting average of .334, won eight RBI titles, and had over 3,000 career hits, a total which is pretty much universally accepted to merit a player automatic election. Pete Rose, with 4,256 lifetime hits (821 more than Anson), is not in the Hall of Fame on account of some illegal betting that he did. Rose bet on ballgames during his time managing the Reds, but he only bet on his own team. This is indeed enough to exclude him from the Hall of Fame, but it doesn't hold a candle compared with what Anson did. The fact that Anson is in the Hall of Fame and that Rose is not is absolutely ludicrous. 

My opinion: Cap Anson was a disgrace to baseball, and definitely not a Hall of Famer.