Editing Marshalltown, Iowa (section)

===Baseball===
[[Cap Anson|Adrian Constantine "Cap" Anson]], son of Henry and Jennette Anson, was the first European child born in the new pioneer town and is today known as Marshalltown's “first son.” Adrian became a [[Major League Baseball]] player and was inducted into the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame]] in [[Baseball Hall of Fame balloting, 1939|1939]]. He was regarded as one of the greatest players of his era and one of the first superstars of the game.<ref name="SABR">{{Cite web | title = Cap Anson | work = Society for American Baseball Research Baseball Biography Project | url = http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=1257&pid=305 | access-date = 2008-01-22 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120107015052/http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&bid=1257&pid=305 | archive-date = 2012-01-07 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

[[File:Adrian "Cap" Anson, first baseman, Chicago White Stockings, 1887.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Adrian Cap Anson]]
Baseball steadily became popular as Marshalltown grew in the mid-1800s. Adrian's brother Sturgis also became a talented baseball player and both went to play on intra-school teams at the [[University of Notre Dame]]. Both later returned to Marshalltown to play baseball for the town team. Along with their father Henry, the town's founder, they put together a team and became the most prominent team in the state of [[Iowa]].<ref>{{cite web | title = The First Son| publisher = Cap Chronicled| url = http://capanson.com/chapter1.html|access-date = 2011-02-19 }}</ref> The Marshalltown team, with Henry Anson at third base, Adrian's brother Sturgis in center field, and Adrian at second base, won the Iowa state championship in 1868. In 1870 Marshalltown played an exhibition game with the talented [[Rockford Forest Citys]]. Although Marshalltown lost the game, Rockford's management offered contracts to all three of the Ansons. Adrian accepted the contract, which began his professional career in baseball in 1871.

Baseball continued its popularity in Marshalltown. In the early 1880s [[Billy Sunday]] played for the town baseball team.<ref name="irfphbeBSunday">{{cite book|last=Firstenberger|first=William Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XbW_Z8w2b3kC&q=marshalltown&pg=PA139 |title=In rare form: a pictorial history of baseball evangelist Billy Sunday|publisher=University of Iowa Press|year=2005|isbn=0-87745-959-2|pages=12|access-date=2010-12-17}}</ref> In 1882, with Sunday in [[left fielder|left field]], the Marshalltown team defeated the state champion [[Des Moines, Iowa|Des Moines]] team 13–4.<ref name="Dorsett, 15; Knickerbocker, 26-7">Dorsett, 15; Knickerbocker, 26-7.</ref> Marshalltown later formed a [[Minor league baseball|minor league]] team naming it after the Anson family, the [[Marshalltown Ansons]]. From 1914 to 1928 the team played in the [[Central Association]] and [[Mississippi Valley League]].