1871 Preview - Rockford Forest Citys

The Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois was actually one of the first teams to pay players, although they were not an openly professional team. As a result, Rockford employed star players Ross Barnes and Al Spalding in the late 1860s before they left to join Harry Wright's team. In 1871, with all the teams openly paying players, Rockford lost its advantage and quickly found themselves overmatched both financially and on the base ball diamond. The team folded following the 1871 campaign.

P - Cherokee Fisher - He was a star pitcher from the mid-1860s through the mid-1870s, but was as well known for being as drunk as for being a great pitcher. He traveled from town to town, playing for a different team each season, and the general belief was that his alcoholism had something to do with that drifting. Unlike many drunks of that era, he did not drink his way to an early grave - he became a Chicago police officer after his playing days, and lived to the age of 67.
C - Scott Hastings - I always think of the crappy backup center for the Pistons (and what's with all the Pistons references?), but he was actually a journeyman catcher of the 1870s. Hastings was involved in deciding the National Association champion in 1871, because he jumped to the Rockford club early in the season from a Louisiana team, and didn't wait the required 60 days before playing in any games. As a result, Rockford was forced to forfeit several games, which gave the title to Philadelphia.
1B - Cap Anson - Of course, back then he was just "Adrian Anson," since he didn't become the "cap" of anything until the mid-1870s. He turned 19 years old just before the season started, and wasn't yet the superstar he would become. I'm going to leave off giving him a detailed bio here, since he's the one 19th century player most knowledgeable modern fans know about.
2B - Bob "Magnet" Addy - Good defensive player who played for Rockford for several years and lasted as a professional until the mid-1870s. My favorite story about him is that after his career he tried to generate interest in a version of baseball played on ice. (Still sounds better than hockey!)
3B - Ralph Ham - Not much out there on him. He was from Troy, New York, so he could have been a hired gun brought in for the season, since Rockford was one of the most well-known teams in the west around 1870.
SS - Chick Fulmer - Strange situation. Fulmer was a regular professional player in the top leagues into the 1880s, but there's just no personal information on him. He was a Philadelphia native who lived until 1940 - one of the longest-lived original major leaguers.
LF - Pony Sager - He didn't play very many games as a professional. Like Cap Anson, he was from Marshalltown, Iowa, so presumably he was hired at the same time - when the Rockford club made a trip to Marshalltown in 1870. (They also tried to sign Anson's two brothers, but both turned down the opportunity.)
CF - George Bird - Again, not much known about him other than the fact that he lived to be 90 years old. He was from near Rockford, so he was one of the few players on the team who was not a hired gun.
RF - Gat Stires - He was born in New Jersey, lived to be 83, and only played in a few professional games. Other than that I got nothing.

So this team has some decent hired guns, but for the most part they couldn't hire enough talent to compete with the big boys, and their record seems likely to reflect that.