One of the early stars of Chicago baseball was Outfielder Jimmy Ryan, who played for the Cubs back when they were called the White Stockings and when they were the Colts.  Oh, and also when they were the Orphans.  He also was with the Chicago Pirates of the Players’ League.  Simply put, if you went to a professional baseball game in Chicago from 1885 to 1900, you saw Jimmy Ryan play.

Debuting for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1929, Larry French was a top knuckleball pitcher of the 1930s.

David Justice is an interesting player to put on this list as his overall numbers were not so much that of a compiler, nor did he have a monster season.  What Justice was, was a very good player for a long time, and despite his fame (married to Halle Barry), his career was underrated.

"Silent" Mike Tiernan played his entire baseball career at the highest level with the New York Giants (1887-99), where the Rightfielder (pardon the pun) quietly was once of the better hitters of the 1890s.