What years did Bob Forsch play?

Bob Forsch played in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1989.

Was Bob Forsch a pitcher?

Yes. Bob Forsch pitched in the major leagues, recording 168 wins and 1133 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Bob Forsch hit?

Bob Forsch hit 12 career home runs with 190 hits.

What teams did Bob Forsch play for?

Bob Forsch played for 2 teams: the St. Louis Cardinals (1974–1988) and the Houston Astros (1988–1989).

What awards did Bob Forsch win?

Bob Forsch won 2 Silver Slugger awards (1980 and 1987).

What were Bob Forsch's career stats?

In 498 games, Bob Forsch went 168-136 with a 3.76 ERA, 1,133 strikeouts, 2,794.2 innings pitched, and 3 saves. At the plate he had 190 hits and 12 home runs.

What was Bob Forsch's salary?

Bob Forsch's last recorded salary was $975,000, in 1989. His highest recorded salary was $975,000, in 1989, and his lowest was $400,000, in 1988. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 1989.

What position did Bob Forsch play?

Bob Forsch played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was Bob Forsch and how much did he weigh?

Bob Forsch was listed at 6 feet 4 inches and 200 pounds.

What was Bob Forsch's career ERA?

Bob Forsch finished with a 3.76 career ERA, going 168-136 with 1,133 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Bob Forsch have?

Bob Forsch recorded 1,133 career strikeouts.

Is Bob Forsch in the Hall of Fame?

No. Bob Forsch has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Bob Forsch

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1974-1989)

Bob Forsch was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1989 for the St. Louis Cardinals and the Houston Astros, a span of 16 seasons. Across 498 career appearances, he went 168-136 with a 3.76 ERA and 1,133 strikeouts. He also batted .213 with 12 home runs. Bob Forsch was a 2-time Silver Slugger. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 172.4.

W (Wins):: Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):: Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):: For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):: Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated October 15, 2026

W–L 168–136

ERA 3.76

WHIP 1.29

SO 1,133

Pitcher PIV 172.4

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'4" / 200 lb
Born: 1/13/1950 in Sacramento, CA, USA
Died: 11/3/2011 in Weeki Wachee, FL, USA
MLB Debut: 1974-07-07
Last Game: 1989-09-25
Awards: 2× Silver Slugger

Full name: Robert Herbert Forsch

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Career Pitching Statistics

Bob Forsch — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
168	136	498	422	67	19	3	2794.2	2,777	1,169	216	832	1,133	3.76	172.4

Career ERA 3.76 vs. league average 3.83 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Bob Forsch Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1974	SLN	NL	7	4	19	14	5	2	0	100.0	84	33	34	39	2.97	3.63 (+18%)	329.4
1975	SLN	NL	15	10	34	34	7	4	0	230.0	213	73	70	108	2.86	3.71 (+23%)	1922.6
1976	SLN	NL	8	10	33	32	2	0	0	194.0	209	85	71	76	3.94	3.51 (-12%)	-2999.3
1977	SLN	NL	20	7	35	35	8	2	0	217.1	210	84	69	95	3.48	4.00 (+13%)	-301.4
1978	SLN	NL	11	17	34	34	7	3	0	233.2	205	96	97	114	3.70	3.69 (avg)	-386.8
1979	SLN	NL	11	11	33	32	7	1	0	218.2	215	93	52	92	3.83	4.00 (+4%)	2316.6
1980	SLN	NL	11	10	31	31	8	0	0	214.2	225	90	33	87	3.77	3.84 (+2%)	3677.3
1981	SLN	NL	10	5	20	20	1	0	0	124.1	106	44	29	41	3.18	3.58 (+11%)	365.4
1982	SLN	NL	15	9	36	34	6	2	1	233.0	238	90	54	69	3.48	3.86 (+10%)	605.2
1983	SLN	NL	10	12	34	30	6	2	0	187.0	190	89	54	56	4.28	3.87 (-11%)	-3726.5
1984	SLN	NL	2	5	16	11	1	0	0	52.1	64	35	19	21	6.02	3.81 (-58%)	-960.7
1985	SLN	NL	9	6	34	19	3	1	2	136.0	132	59	47	48	3.90	3.89 (avg)	-738.9
1986	SLN	NL	14	10	33	33	3	0	0	230.0	211	83	68	104	3.25	3.97 (+18%)	715.9
1987	SLN	NL	11	7	33	30	2	1	0	179.0	189	86	45	89	4.32	4.29 (-1%)	2349.0
1988	SLN	NL	9	4	30	12	1	1	0	108.2	111	45	38	40	3.73	3.73 (avg)	-904.4
1988	HOU	NL	1	4	6	6	0	0	0	27.2	42	20	6	14	6.51	3.73 (-74%)	117.9
1989	HOU	NL	4	5	37	15	0	0	0	108.1	133	64	46	40	5.32	3.71 (-43%)	-2208.9
Career · 17 seasons			168	136	498	422	67	19	3	2,794.2	2,777	1,169	832	1,133	3.76	—	172

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Bob Forsch — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
509	893	77	190	45	8	12	84	3	27	249	.213	.235	.321	.557	-2,429

Career AVG .213 vs. league average .259 across their career seasons — 17.9% below league average.

Career OBP .235 vs. league average .325 across their career seasons — 27.5% below league average.

Career SLG .321 vs. league average .385 across their career seasons — 16.6% below league average.

Career OPS .557 vs. league average .710 across their career seasons — 21.6% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Bob Forsch Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1974	SLN	NL	20	29	1	7	1	0	0	1	1	2	11	.241	—	—	—	—	0.0
1975	SLN	NL	35	78	9	24	3	3	1	5	0	3	20	.308	.257 (+19%)	.327 (+4%)	.374 (+23%)	.701 (+14%)	152.3
1976	SLN	NL	35	62	6	11	2	0	1	5	0	1	17	.177	.255 (-31%)	.320 (-41%)	.360 (-29%)	.681 (-34%)	-332.6
1977	SLN	NL	35	72	6	12	4	0	0	4	0	2	29	.167	.264 (-37%)	.329 (-43%)	.401 (-45%)	.730 (-44%)	-512.7
1978	SLN	NL	34	83	2	15	7	0	1	8	0	1	26	.181	.257 (-30%)	.323 (-41%)	.378 (-20%)	.702 (-30%)	-415.8
1979	SLN	NL	33	73	7	8	2	2	0	5	0	5	17	.110	.265 (-59%)	.329 (-51%)	.397 (-52%)	.727 (-51%)	-644.8
1980	SLN	NL	32	78	11	23	5	0	3	10	1	2	18	.295	.264 (+11%)	.326 (-4%)	.387 (+22%)	.714 (+10%)	104.9
1981	SLN	NL	20	41	0	5	1	0	0	3	0	1	10	.122	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	SLN	NL	36	73	7	15	3	1	0	3	0	3	20	.205	.261 (-21%)	.324 (-27%)	.388 (-30%)	.712 (-28%)	-335.7
1983	SLN	NL	37	54	4	13	3	0	1	6	0	3	14	.241	.260 (-8%)	.324 (-17%)	.389 (-10%)	.714 (-13%)	-134.0
1984	SLN	NL	16	16	1	4	1	0	0	3	0	0	3	.250	—	—	—	—	0.0
1985	SLN	NL	34	45	3	11	2	1	1	4	0	0	10	.244	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	SLN	NL	34	76	7	13	4	1	2	12	0	0	24	.171	.257 (-34%)	.325 (-48%)	.395 (-17%)	.720 (-31%)	-418.9
1987	SLN	NL	34	57	9	17	6	0	2	8	0	3	17	.298	.262 (+13%)	.331 (+1%)	.415 (+22%)	.746 (+13%)	108.2
1988	SLN	NL	31	25	3	7	0	0	0	2	1	1	6	.280	—	—	—	—	0.0
1988	HOU	NL	6	7	0	1	1	0	0	3	0	0	1	.143	—	—	—	—	0.0
1989	HOU	NL	37	24	1	4	0	0	0	2	0	0	6	.167	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 17 seasons			509	893	77	190	45	8	12	84	3	27	249	.213	—	—	—	—	-2,429

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Bob Forsch — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
12	5	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.400

Playoff Batting by Year

Bob Forsch — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	RBI	AVG
1987	NLCS	SLN	3	0	0	0	0	.000
1987	WS	SLN	3	2	0	0	0	.000
1985	NLCS	SLN	1	0	0	0	0	.000
1985	WS	SLN	2	0	0	0	0	.000
1982	NLCS	SLN	1	3	1	2	1	.667
1982	WS	SLN	2	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Bob Forsch — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
3	4	12	5	0	37.1	42	24	12	19	5.79

Playoff Pitching by Year

Bob Forsch — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1987	NLCS	SLN	1	1	3	0	3.0	4	4	1	3	12.00
1987	WS	SLN	1	0	3	0	6.1	8	7	5	3	9.95
1985	NLCS	SLN	0	0	1	1	3.1	3	2	2	0	5.40
1985	WS	SLN	0	1	2	1	3.0	6	4	1	3	12.00
1982	NLCS	SLN	1	0	1	1	9.0	3	0	0	6	0.00
1982	WS	SLN	0	2	2	2	12.2	18	7	3	4	4.97

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1007 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Bob Forsch — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	262	431	41	104	7	51	.241
Away	247	462	36	86	5	33	.186

Pitching — Home / Away

Bob Forsch — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	255	1466.1	1414	564	418	607	3.46
Away	243	1328.1	1363	605	414	526	4.10

Last 10 Games — Batting

Bob Forsch — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	SO
1989-09-25	HOU	ATL	L	0	0
1989-09-21	HOU	ATL	L	0	0
1989-09-12	HOU	SDP	L	0	0
1989-09-10	HOU	SFG	L	0	0
1989-09-06	HOU	SDP	L	0	0
1989-09-02	HOU	STL	L	1	0
1989-08-27	HOU	STL	W	1	1
1989-08-23	HOU	PIT	L	0	0
1989-08-18	HOU	CHC	W	0	0
1989-08-16	HOU	PIT	L	0	0

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Bob Forsch — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1989-09-25	HOU	ATL	—	0.1	0	0	0	1	1	0
1989-09-21	HOU	ATL	—	0.0	2	1	1	1	0	0
1989-09-12	HOU	SDP	—	1.2	2	1	1	1	1	0
1989-09-10	HOU	SFG	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1989-09-06	HOU	SDP	—	2.0	1	0	0	0	0	0
1989-09-02	HOU	STL	L	1.2	5	3	3	0	1	1
1989-08-27	HOU	STL	W	6.0	4	3	3	2	2	1
1989-08-23	HOU	PIT	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0
1989-08-18	HOU	CHC	—	2.0	3	0	0	0	1	0
1989-08-16	HOU	PIT	—	2.0	2	1	1	1	2	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Bob Forsch — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	498	422	234	405	18	35

Season-by-Season Fielding

Bob Forsch — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1974	SLN	P	19	14	10	13	0	0
1975	SLN	P	34	34	18	37	1	7
1976	SLN	P	33	32	24	28	4	2
1977	SLN	P	35	35	12	29	2	2
1978	SLN	P	34	34	18	37	0	4
1979	SLN	P	33	32	25	31	1	3
1980	SLN	P	31	31	11	44	2	5
1981	SLN	P	20	20	14	20	0	1
1982	SLN	P	36	34	21	30	2	1
1983	SLN	P	34	30	14	29	1	1
1984	SLN	P	16	11	8	8	0	0
1985	SLN	P	34	19	12	20	1	0
1986	SLN	P	33	33	17	32	0	5
1987	SLN	P	33	30	9	25	0	2
1988	SLN	P	30	12	7	10	3	1
1988	HOU	P	6	6	1	3	0	0
1989	HOU	P	37	15	13	9	1	1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Bob Forsch Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	498

Awards & Honors

Bob Forsch — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1987	Silver Slugger	P
1983	Player of the Week	Week of 1983-09-30
1980	Silver Slugger	P
1978	Player of the Week	Week of 1978-04-14

Salary History

Bob Forsch's recorded salaries total $3,235,568 over 5 seasons, 1985 to 1989. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Forsch's career ran from 1974 to 1989. His seasons before 1985 are not included.

Bob Forsch — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1989	HOU	NL	$975,000
1988	SLN	NL	$400,000
1987	SLN	NL	$750,000
1986	SLN	NL	$527,235
1985	SLN	NL	$583,333
Total recorded salary (partial)			$3,235,568

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Bob Forsch (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Compare Bob Forsch

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Bob Forsch: the record in brief

Between the debut on July 7, 1974 and the final game on September 25, 1989, Bob Forsch built the record summarized on this page. By club, Forsch's seasons break down as the St. Louis Cardinals (1974 to 1988) and the Houston Astros (1988 through 1989). Listed as a pitcher, Forsch both batted and threw right-handed. Height and weight on file: 6 feet, 4 inches and 200 pounds. Forsch was born on January 13, 1950, in Sacramento, CA, USA. Forsch died on November 3, 2011, in Weeki Wachee, FL, USA. Forsch's full given name, per the bio, is Robert Herbert Forsch.

Forsch's career pitching line is 168 wins, 136 losses and a 3.76 ERA over 498 appearances. Forsch had 1,133 strikeouts, 67 complete games, and 19 shutouts. Forsch's 3.76 ERA was close to the 3.83 league figure for those seasons. 1977 brought Forsch a season-high 20 wins. Forsch struck out 114 batters in 1978, a career high. 1975 was Forsch's sharpest full season, a 2.86 ERA against the league's 3.71.

Frequently Asked Questions about Bob Forsch

What years did Bob Forsch play?: Bob Forsch played in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1989.
Was Bob Forsch a pitcher?: Yes. Bob Forsch pitched in the major leagues, recording 168 wins and 1133 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Bob Forsch hit?: Bob Forsch hit 12 career home runs with 190 hits.
What teams did Bob Forsch play for?: Bob Forsch played for 2 teams: the St. Louis Cardinals (1974–1988) and the Houston Astros (1988–1989).
What awards did Bob Forsch win?: Bob Forsch won 2 Silver Slugger awards (1980 and 1987).
What were Bob Forsch's career stats?: In 498 games, Bob Forsch went 168-136 with a 3.76 ERA, 1,133 strikeouts, 2,794.2 innings pitched, and 3 saves. At the plate he had 190 hits and 12 home runs.
How much did Bob Forsch earn in his career?: Bob Forsch's recorded salaries total $3,235,568 over 5 seasons, 1985 to 1989. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Forsch's career ran from 1974 to 1989. His seasons before 1985 are not included.
What was Bob Forsch's salary?: Bob Forsch's last recorded salary was $975,000, in 1989. His highest recorded salary was $975,000, in 1989, and his lowest was $400,000, in 1988. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 1989.
What position did Bob Forsch play?: Bob Forsch played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Bob Forsch and how much did he weigh?: Bob Forsch was listed at 6 feet 4 inches and 200 pounds.
What was Bob Forsch's career ERA?: Bob Forsch finished with a 3.76 career ERA, going 168-136 with 1,133 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Bob Forsch have?: Bob Forsch recorded 1,133 career strikeouts.
Is Bob Forsch in the Hall of Fame?: No. Bob Forsch has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.