This team composite of the 1870 Forest City Base Ball Club of Rockford, Illinois. While any and all baseball team cards dating from 1870 are rare, this example has added historical importance because it features one of the very few known contemporary images of baseball great Albert Goodwill Spalding from his brief but legendary playing career. The card displays portrait images of nine team members in formal attire, with Spalding's photo prominently featured in the center above that of manager Scott Hastings. Each player is identified below his respective image. Other notable players depicted here are Ross Barnes, one of the best infielders of the era, as well as National League batting champion in 1876, and Bob Addy, one of the top outfielders of his day. The main attraction of the club, however, was young Albert Spalding. Though only twenty years old, Spalding was considered by many to be the top pitcher in the country at this time, and his performance on the mound helped establish Forest City as one of the premier ball clubs in the land. The following season Forest City became a charter member of the National Association, baseball's first organized professional league. Spalding, however, lured by the bonus of $1,500, jumped the club to play for Harry Wright's newly formed Boston Red Stockings, where he led the club to four championships during the league's brief five-year existence. After a stellar pitching career which saw him post an unbelievable 185-43 mark during the four year span 1872-75, Spalding retired to open a sports emporium in 1877. In his positions as a sporting goods magnate and president of the Chicago White Sox, Spalding continued to play an important role in the business and development of Major League baseball throughout the late 1800s. Spalding's power gradually grew and by the close of the century he was widely regarded as the most influential man in baseball. CDVs predating the advent of organized professional baseball are extremely scarce and this particular example, featuring both Spalding and an important early club, is universally recognized by advanced collectors as one of the very best, as well as among the rarest.