Terry Forster!

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit it, but Forster, despite being a good pitcher and a colorful character for sixteen years, is a guy I knew nothing at all about 30 minutes ago. His career ended months before my grade school self started paying attention to baseball. But he's a guy worth knowing about. Forster wakes up a 58 year old this morning.

A left-handed pitcher who was listed at 6'3", 210 pounds, but eventually ballooned to at least 275, Forster was a middle reliever, a closer and a starter, sometimes all in one season. Between 1972-74, Forster was one of those old-school closers, appearing in 172 games (13 starts), gathering 43 decisions, 69 saves, posting a 3.12 ERA and better than seven strikeouts per nine while averaging 136 innings a season. He also had a couple great 1990s-Lee-Smith-type seasons before there was even a 1980s Lee Smith, most notably a 1.93 ERA and 22 saves in 65 innings in 1978 for the NL champion Dodgers. He got himself a ring with the 1981 Dodgers.

In 1985, David Letterman called Forster a "fat tub of goo" for some reason. I'd love to figure out why a national talk show host was singling out a 33 year old middle reliever for the 96-loss Atlanta Braves, but I can't. Anyway, Forster got some attention from that, eventually appeared on Dave's show, and later filmed a music video for a song called "Fat Is In." Forster had a solid 1986 with the Angels (his fifth team), but for some reason was left off the playoff roster for the classic ALCS against the Red Sox.

And for whatever reason, that was it for Terry. Just 35, he spent part of 1987 with the Twins' AAA club, walked 18 in 17 innings, and was done forever.

But the really interesting thing about Forster isn't his pitching or his brief late-night-talk hero status. It's this:

.397/.413/.474

Forster had 86 plate appearances, and it took an oh-for-four in his last National League season to drop him below .400. He pinch hit a few times and, even at his considerable girth, played right field once. Among all players in history (not pitchers, players) with at least 50 career plate appearances, Forster has the highest batting average, and by twelve points. He hit only four doubles, a triple (!) and no home runs, and walked just twice, but also struck out only nine times (10.5%; 2009 NL average for pitchers was 32.7%). His 145 OPS+ puts Micah Owings' 120 to shame.

What does that mean? Well, it means Forster wasn't a poor-hitting pitcher. It's impossible to imagine, say, Randy Johnson hitting .400 over even ten plate appearances, let alone 86. On the other hand, though, even spread out as it was over 16 seasons, it doesn't seem to me that it means much more than it would if, say, Yuniesky Betancourt were hitting .397 come next May 1st. It's unlikely that, over an entire 150-game season as a DH or something, Forster could ever have hit even .275. Certainly possible, but I just don't believe (what with my super-advanced understanding of math) that those 86 PA tell you a lot about his actual ability.

Anyway, now you know something, and so do I: of everyone who has ever played the game long enough to accumulate 50 trips to the plate, the all-time best batting average belongs to a 1970s-80s relief pitcher who once got called out for his weight by a famous talk show host.

Comments (8)

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written by HOVG, January 14, 2010

Love it.

I remember the "tub of goo" stuff, but I don't remember HOW it all started. Suffice it to say, I always remembered Forster thanks to Letterman...but now I have a different reason.

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written by The Common Man, January 14, 2010

Looking at his gamelogs from '86 (http://www.baseball-reference....&year=1986), it appears that Forster must have been hurt for most of July and all of August. He got into 8 games in Sept/Oct, pitching 10 innings and gave up 5 runs (4 earned) with 11 hits, 4 walks, a HBP, and 5 Ks. So it's entirely possible that he just wasn't healthy enough to pitch effectively against the Sox (which would seem to be supported by his sad performance in AAA the next year. Plus, that Angels bullpen was not exactly short staffed. Donnie Moore, Doug Corbett, Gary Lucas, and Chuck Finley had all had good years. The bullpen, particularly Moore and Lucas, did let them down in that series, but it's hard to argue the inclusion of Forster would have prevented that, as he clearly wasn't their go-to guy at crunch time.

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The Letterman back story
written by Barry Gillis, January 15, 2010

David Letterman was discussing watching baseball the previous day, and that he had seen Forster pitch. At that point in his career Forster was in the high 200's. Letterman thought Forster was exceptionally rotund to be a professional athlete, so he got that year's Forster baseball card to see how big he was. Of course he saw the 210 pounds which was Forster's "baseball card" weight for his entire career. It was the silliness of Forster being listed at 210 pounds which Letterman seized upon.

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You lost me in 1986
written by truegrich, January 18, 2010

I was really enjoying this piece until you brought up the painful memories of 1986. That's okay though. The Angels finally got their revenge 23 years later. Oh my... where did the time go?

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Ironies...
written by Barry Gillis, January 19, 2010

My comment post on Forster is centered directly next to the "This is Why You're Fat" link on your "Links" section.

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written by Bill@TDS, January 19, 2010

Ha...good catch.
Thanks for the explanation. I meant to say that earlier, but as you can see I haven't been able to do much with the site over the last few days. I really appreciate getting the full story.
That's pretty common, though--the card companies nab the player's vitals when he enters the league, and then never bother updating them. I'm pretty sure Kirby Puckett was still listed at 185 or so well into his (two hundred and)30s...

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don't look at my driver's license...
written by truegrich, January 19, 2010

I bet all of us (well, at least me) weigh considerably more than what our driver's license says we do. Oh the but for the good ol' days.

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written by truegrich, January 19, 2010

oh but for the good ol' days... sheesh. amazing what happens when you type words in the wrong order.

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