Nestled in Tom Fulton’s hand is Bob Forsch’s 1987 card. Forsch played 16 seasons in the National League mostly with the St. Louis Cardinals. He was a solid if not flashy pitcher winning 168 games with a career ERA of 3.76.
Apparently, Forsch was also pretty handy with the stick. Over his career, he hit 12 homers, 65 extra base hits and 84 rbis. In 1987, he hit .298 with six doubles and two doubles.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 Totals | 34 | 30 | 71 | 57 | 9 | 17 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 17 | .298 | .333 | .509 |
Not surprisingly, Forsch won the Silver Slugger award in ‘87 for his efforts.
Worth mentioning is that Bob has a second 14 at 13 in addition to his 45-14. He was walked three times that season.
If you’re wondering, Forsch went 11-7 with a 4.32 ERA in 1987. Typically, that was pretty high for a CZ back then nd the cutoff for wins was 13 or 14. If memory serves though, 1987 was a pretty offensive year. The card makers may have adjusted.
Worth noting that Forsch allowed an unusually low number of unearned runs pitching in front of the Cards’ excellent defense (and I’m guessing that their fielding was Fielding One in every alignment available in the base set). Had his ER/R been at the league average his ERA would have been 4.06, compared to the league 4.08.
Or, to look at the same thing from the opposite angle, his RA/9 was right at league average.