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 the Colts.  Oh, and also when they were the Orphans.  He was also 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.

Ryan was a consistent hitter throughout his career, and in this dead-ball era, he had quite a bit of power.  The Outfielder led the National League in Home Runs in 1888 (16), and he was also the league-leader in Hits (182), Doubles (33), and Slugging Percentage (.515).  Ryan batted .332 that year, and he would surpass the .300 mark nine other years.  He was also very good on the basepaths, with Ryan swiping over 25 Bases nine times.

While we can't say that his overall stats scream a Hall of Famer, Ryan has 1,643 Runs, 2,513 Hits, and a lifetime Batting Average of .308.  You would think he would at least have appeared on a ballot, but that never happened for Ryan.  Maybe because he allegedly punched reporters (more than once), but writers never hold grudges over decades, do they?

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.