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1871 Rockford Forest Citys
League National Association of Professional Base Ball Players
Ballpark Agricultural Society Fair Grounds
City Rockford, Illinois
Managers Scott Hastings

The Rockford Forest Citys played their first and only season in 1871 as a charter member of the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players. They finished ninth in the league with a record of 4–21. They folded after the season.

Regular season

Cabinet card of the 1871 Rockford Forest Citys

Rockford finished with 4 wins and 21 losses, 15½ games behind the champion Philadelphia Athletics club and good for last place. Player-manager Scott Hastings was found to have violated the "60 day rule" implemented by the league—if a player switched teams during the season, the team had to bench him for 60 days before he could play. Hastings had jumped from a Louisiana team to the Forest Citys in the spring and immediately begun playing for Rockford. This complaint was brought before the league, and the Forest Citys were forced to forfeit 4 of their wins.

The star of the team was Cap Anson, who hit .325 for the Forest Citys and would go on to become the player-manager of the Chicago White Stockings for over 20 seasons. Anson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1939.

Season standings

Pos Team Pld W L T RF RA RD PCT GB
1 Philadelphia Athletics (C) 28 21 7 0 376 266 +110 .750
2 Chicago White Stockings 28 19 9 0 302 241 +61 .679 2
3 Boston Red Stockings 31 20 10 1 401 303 +98 .661 2
4 Washington Olympics 32 15 15 2 310 303 +7 .500 7
5 New York Mutuals 33 16 17 0 302 313 −11 .485 7.5
6 Troy Haymakers 29 13 15 1 351 362 −11 .466 8
7 Fort Wayne Kekiongas 19 7 12 0 137 243 −106 .368 9.5
8 Cleveland Forest Citys 29 10 19 0 249 341 −92 .345 11.5
9 Rockford Forest Citys 25 4 21 0 231 287 −56 .160 15.5
Source: Baseball Reference
(C) Champions

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]
Team BOS CHI CLE FW NY PHI ROC TRO WSH
Boston 1–3 3–1 2–0 2–2 3–1 3–0 3–2 3–1–1
Chicago 3–1 2–1 2–0 3–1 2–3 3–0 1–1 3–2
Cleveland 1–3 1–2 0–3 3–2 0–3 3–1 2–2 0–3
Fort Wayne 0–2 0–2 3–0 1–2 0–2 1–1 1–1 1–2
New York 2–2 1–3 2–3 2–1 2–3 3–1 1–3 3–1
Philadelphia 1–3 3–2 3–0 2–0 3–2 3–0 3–0 3–0
Rockford 0–3 0–3 1–3 1–1 1–3 0–3 1–2 0–3
Troy 2–3 1–1 2–2 1–1 3–1 0–3 2–1 2–3–1
Washington 1–3–1 2–3 3–0 2–1 1–3 0–3 3–0 3–2–1


Roster

1871 Rockford Forest Citys
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Scott Hastings 25 118 30 .254 0 20
1B Denny Mack 25 122 30 .246 0 17
2B Bob Addy 25 118 32 .271 0 13
SS Chick Fulmer 16 63 17 .270 0 3
3B Cap Anson 25 120 39 .325 0 16
OF George Bird 25 106 28 .264 0 13
OF Ralph Ham 25 113 28 .248 0 12
OF Gat Stires 25 110 30 .273 2 24

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Pony Sager 8 39 11 .282 0 5
Al Barker 1 4 1 .250 0 2

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Cherokee Fisher 24 213.0 4 16 4.35 15

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Denny Mack 3 13.0 0 1 3.46 1

References