Your Thoughts on Bob Forsch's Passing and Forsch Brothers Trivia?

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david

Active member
Long-time Cardinals pitcher Bob Forsch passed away last week at the age of 61. He and his brother Ken each spent 16 seasons in the majors. Bob had more wins than Ken but Ken may have been the better pitcher due to a better ERA while playing for some miserable Houston teams. Do you remember his playing career? Which brother did you follow?

It's been a week and I had seen no mention of Forsch's death in the baseball section. I thought it was time he was memorialized here.

Trivia Question 1. Both Bob and Ken Forsch threw no-hitters. What other brother combinations in MLB also threw no-hitters?

Trivia Question 2. Combined the Forsch brothers had 284 career wins. What brother combinations had more?
 
C

Chipmaker

Member
I recall the Perrys each had a no-hitter.

The Niekros top the list in fraternal wins, closely followed by the Perrys. The Mathewsons would count, though Henry didn't contribute to the cause. Can't remember if there are any other pairs with more than the Forschs.

Particular thoughts -- nothing stands out, alas. Good pitcher, and was sorry to read he left.

There is this one game I remember watching back in 1989. Bob was the first reliever in, and did nothing to douse the Reds' fire that day. Just a massacre, and he took one (of many) for the team, though after the first, he settled in pretty well (perhaps the Reds were exhausted). Check out the first inning (unless you're an Astros fan): http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1989/B08030CIN1989.htm
 
R

RockFirestorm

Member
It was mentioned in here, a couple idiots claimed the Cards should retire his number as happens when any player dies these days. People water down the whole "retire the number thing." However, I love the brothers-fathers-relative baseball triva stuff.

The answers are the Perry brothers and Neikro bros. The Perrys are also the only brothers to both win Cy Youngs too.
 
J

JohnnyZ

New member
I followed the passing of Bob Forsch's on other blogs, As others have already answered the Perry brothers also pitched no-hitters but another interesting fact is that these brothers also both won a Cy Young award with Gaylord winning two during his career. The Niekro's won the most games of any brother combination. One more coincidence concerning Mr. Forsch (D. Nov,2011) two of his contemporaries and listed in his similarity section of BB-REF.com were Paul Splitorff (D.May 2011) and Mike Flanagan (D.August 2011), i know it is just a coincidence but eerie none the less.
 
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HubertC

New member
Jim and Gaylord come to mind on both trivia questions. Yes I remember them both along with Joe and Phil Niekro. I was wondering if the pair Ken and George brett ever single handedly broke up no-no's in their career ?
 
U

UtterChaos

Member
Both of the Forsch's were good pitchers. One reason Ken's ERA was lower was because he pitched half his games in the Astrodome which was a good pitchers park. He spent a lot of time with Houston and unfortunately, left the team when they started to get good. Bob managed to pitch in 3 World Series contests but didn't have much success going 1-3 with an ERA over 7.00.

Trivia 1: I thought I remember that Bob and Ken were the first brothers to pitch no-hitters and sure enough they were. Gaylord threw a no-hitter but Jim never did.

No other brothers threw complete game no-hitters but I remember Ramon Martinez throwing a no-hitter and his brother, Pedro, had a perfect game through 9 innings but the Expos hadn't scored a run and he gave up a hit in the 10th. I also found out brothers Melido and Pascual Perez each had no-hitters that were less than 9 innings.

Trivia 2: Brothers with more wins? Off the top of my head I would say the Mathewsons, the Niekros, the Perrys, the Martinezs, and the Maddux's. Now let's research it and see if I missed any.....

John (328), Dad (39), and Walter Clarkson (18) had more. I guess technically Tom (305) and Mike (0) Glavine would count. Jeff (104) and Jered (84) have a good chance to pass them. I could see Jered getting another 100. Livan and Orlando Hernandez are close with a combined 264.
 
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