# 1871 Rockford Forest Citys season

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

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 | Teamvte | 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 |

### Record vs. opponents

1871 National Association Recordsvte Sources: :
| 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
## 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 |