MLB / Players

Bob Forsch

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 4 in · 200 lb

BornJanuary 13, 1950 · Sacramento, CA, USA

MLB debutJuly 7, 1974

Final gameSeptember 25, 1989

Seasons16 (1974–1989)

St. Louis Cardinals 1974–1987; Houston Astros 1988; St. Louis Cardinals 1988; Houston Astros 1989

Percentile snapshot

1987 season — qualified pitchers

23.4

24.7

28.6

92.2

6.5

SHO

27.3

189

66.2

71.4

93.5

7.8

88.3

179.0

18.2

ERA

4.32

33.8

WHIP

1.307

53.2

K/9

4.47

FIP

3.78

72.7

FIP-

91.9

68.8

ERA+

95.2

24.7

sWAR

2.2

40.3

of 78 qualified 1987 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

98.2

30.8

sWAR

30.3

96.6

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1974	20	37	29	1	7	1	0	0	1	2	11	1	0	.241	.290	.276	.566	61.4	60.7	.276	1.9
1975	35	88	78	9	24	3	3	1	5	3	20	0	0	.308	.341	.462	.803	121.4	118.9	.372	5.8
1976	35	72	62	6	11	2	0	1	5	1	17	0	0	.177	.190	.258	.449	15.5	26.5	.208	1.0
1977	35	86	72	6	12	4	0	0	4	2	29	0	0	.167	.189	.222	.411	3.0	11.2	.190	3.1
1978	34	89	83	2	15	7	0	1	8	1	26	0	0	.181	.190	.301	.492	14.7	29.0	.223	3.4
1979	33	84	73	7	8	2	2	0	5	5	17	0	0	.110	.163	.192	.354	-13.7	-3.8	.169	2.0
1980	32	89	78	11	23	5	0	3	10	2	18	1	0	.295	.313	.474	.787	115.9	114.4	.356	3.0
1981	20	48	41	0	5	1	0	0	3	1	10	0	0	.122	.143	.146	.289	-35.7	-18.4	.140	1.7
1982	36	90	73	7	15	3	1	0	3	3	20	0	0	.205	.237	.274	.511	38.4	42.7	.240	3.0
1983	37	66	54	4	13	3	0	1	6	3	14	0	1	.241	.271	.352	.623	67.4	72.2	.284	0.8
1984	16	17	16	1	4	1	0	0	3	0	3	0	0	.250	.250	.313	.563	54.1	59.9	.258	-1.0
1985	34	47	45	3	11	2	1	1	4	0	10	0	0	.244	.244	.400	.644	74.2	79.4	.288	1.1
1986	34	88	76	7	13	4	1	2	12	0	24	0	0	.171	.169	.329	.498	23.6	35.7	.217	3.7
1987	34	71	57	9	17	6	0	2	8	3	17	0	0	.298	.333	.509	.842	120.8	119.0	.371	2.2
1988	37	39	32	3	8	1	0	0	5	1	7	1	0	.250	.273	.281	.554	58.0	60.4	.260	0.1
1989	37	30	24	1	4	0	0	0	2	0	6	0	0	.167	.167	.167	.333	-14.2	-2.6	.155	-1.6

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1974	19	14	7	4	0	5	2	84	33	34	39	5	100.0	2.97	1.180	3.51	3.51	97.9	120.6	1.9
1975	34	34	15	10	0	7	4	213	73	70	108	14	230.0	2.86	1.230	4.23	3.42	91.5	130.9	5.8
1976	33	32	8	10	0	2	0	209	85	71	76	17	194.0	3.94	1.443	3.53	4.15	117.7	89.4	1.0
1977	35	35	20	7	0	8	2	210	84	69	95	20	217.3	3.48	1.284	3.93	4.05	105.1	110.7	3.1
1978	34	34	11	17	0	7	3	205	96	97	114	15	233.7	3.70	1.292	4.39	3.79	95.4	107.5	3.4
1979	33	32	11	11	0	7	1	215	93	52	92	16	218.7	3.83	1.221	3.79	3.56	94.1	98.8	2.0
1980	31	31	11	10	0	8	0	225	90	33	87	12	214.7	3.77	1.202	3.65	3.18	85.6	98.4	3.0
1981	20	20	10	5	0	1	0	106	44	29	41	7	124.3	3.18	1.086	2.97	3.54	99.1	112.1	1.7
1982	36	34	15	9	1	6	2	238	90	54	69	16	233.0	3.48	1.253	2.67	3.80	104.6	104.4	3.0
1983	34	30	10	12	0	6	2	190	89	54	56	23	187.0	4.28	1.305	2.70	4.59	126.5	84.7	0.8
1984	16	11	2	5	0	1	0	64	35	19	21	6	52.3	6.02	1.586	3.61	4.57	130.6	58.1	-1.0
1985	34	19	9	6	2	3	1	132	59	47	48	11	136.0	3.90	1.316	3.18	4.05	114.4	90.5	1.1
1986	33	33	14	10	0	3	0	211	83	68	104	19	230.0	3.25	1.213	4.07	3.83	104.8	112.5	3.7
1987	33	30	11	7	0	2	1	189	86	45	89	15	179.0	4.32	1.307	4.47	3.78	91.9	95.2	2.2
1988	36	18	10	8	0	1	1	153	65	44	54	10	136.3	4.29	1.445	3.56	3.90	113.6	80.0	0.1
1989	37	15	4	5	0	0	0	133	64	46	40	10	108.3	5.32	1.652	3.32	4.42	130.2	63.9	-1.6

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

509

1,041

893

190

RBI

249

.2128

OBP

.2354

SLG

.3214

OPS

.5568

Pitching

G (P)

498

447th-most career G (P)

422

111th-most career GS

168

200th-most career W

136

238th-most career L

SHO

274th-most career SHO

2,795

178th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,133

454th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

832

225th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.765

WHIP

1.2914

K/9

3.65

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1980-04-22	STL @ CHC Gameday	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	6
1980-06-11	STL @ ATL Gameday	4	2	2	1	1	1	0	6
1987-05-13	STL @ SF Gameday	3	1	2	1	1	1	0	6
1975-08-08	SD @ STL Gameday	3	2	2	0	1	2	0	5
1976-08-04	STL @ PIT Gameday	3	1	2	0	1	1	0	5

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1978-04-12	PIT @ STL Gameday	9.0	4	1	1	3	9	0
1979-08-16	LAD @ STL Gameday	10.0	7	2	2	2	8	1
1977-08-23	LAD @ STL Gameday	9.0	3	1	1	2	8	0
1976-06-03	PHI @ STL Gameday	8.0	7	1	0	5	8	0
1986-04-29	STL @ SF Gameday	7.0	6	2	2	3	8	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

2× Silver Slugger

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.