1871 Rockford Forest Citys season

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

1871 National Association Records 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 Cherokee Fisher		Catchers Scott Hastings Infielders Bob Addy Cap Anson Chick Fulmer Denny Mack Pony Sager		Outfielders Al Barker George Bird Ralph Ham Gat Stires		Manager Scott Hastings

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

• 1871 Rockford Forest Citys season at Baseball Reference