National Association

Rockford Forest Citys History

By Patrick Mondout

The Forest City Base-Ball Club of Rockford (or "Rockford Forest Citys") were a team that played during the first season of the old National Association (NA). 

At a glance... ROCKFORD FOREST CITYS Franchise Facts Established 1867 Disbanded  1871 Located Rockford, Illinois Executives Hiram Waldo  Year by Year Results W L % 1871  4 21 .160 Affiliations NABBP (1867-1870) National Association (1871) Postseason/Titles NA Titles (0) Nicknames Forest City of Rockford (1871) Ballparks Agriculture Society Fair Grounds (1871) Top Performances Single-Season Career

The Cincinnati Red Stockings are credited with having the first all professional team in 1869, but it was only possible to openly field a team within the National Association after a December, 1868 meeting in which it was decided to create a separate classification of professional teams. And this was largely the result of teams like the Forest Citys of Rockford paying players under the table. 

Despite having future Hall of Famer Cap Anson at third base (he was just 19 years old but did lead the league in doubles), the Rockford team was overmatched and finished last in the NA. They could have used the services of future four time batting champion Ross Barnes and future Hall of Fame pitcher Al Spalding, who both bolted Rockford for Boston for the 1871 season. 

The high cost of travel left the team in debt for the season and it disbanded.

National Association sources/bibliography:
Baseball: The Early Years by Harold Seymour.
Baseball Before We Knew It: A Search For The Roots Of The Game by David Block.
Baseball in Blue and Gray: The National Pastime during the Civil War by George B. Kirsch.
Blackguards and Red Stockings by William J. Ryczek
The National Association of Base Ball Players, 1857-1870 by Marshall D. Wright.
Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball by Warren Goldstein.
When Johnny Came Sliding Home: The Post-Civil War Baseball Boom, 1865-1870 by William J. Ryczek

David Nemec, the tireless 19th Century Baseball researcher, has also written a novel called Early Dreams, which takes place during this era and features real-life characters such as Cap Anson, George Wright, and Henry Lucas.

General Baseball History sources/bibliography:
Baseball: A History of America's Game by Benjamin G. Rader.
Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns (PBS DVD)
The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present by David Pietrusza.
The Great 19th Century Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball, 2nd Edition by David Nemec.
Early Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1825-1908 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Middle Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball, 1900-1948 by Dean A. Sullivan.
Late Innings: A Documentary History of Baseball 1945-1972 by Dean A. Sullivan
Past Time: Baseball as History by Jules Tygiel
America's National Game: Historic Facts Concerning the Beginning, Evolution, Development and Popularity of Baseball by Albert Spalding
Total Baseball: The Ultimate Baseball Encyclopedia by John Thorn, et al.