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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.