Terry Forster

Relief Pitcher
San Francisco Spiders (CHI, BOS)
1973-1988

The verdict on Terry Forster's candidacy is really a proxy poll on the place of relief pitchers in Hall of Fame. There are some who feel that there is no place in the Hall for relievers, as evidenced by the Beachville journey of Ray Narleski, who took eight tries to get elected despite being the all-time save leader and named to the 1960s All-Decade Team. For those who feel that the Hall should honor the best performers at each and every role, there is a strong case for Forster,  who had more career saves, a lower ERA and WHIP, and a higher WAR than Narleski—and was Narleski's successor on the 1970s Team of the Decade.

Terry Jay Forster was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota—the hometown of David Soul of Starsky & Hutch fame—and graduated from Santee High School near San Diego. He was a second round pick of the Chicago White Sox in the 1970 MLB draft and was named Sporting News AL Reliever of the Year in 1974. He won the World Series with the Dodgers in the strike-shortened 1981 season and then pitched for the Atlanta Braves, where he became a household name after a fat-shaming late-night host called him a Fat Tub of Goo.

The UL Terry Forster was drafted 18th overall in the 1971 draft by San Francisco. The Spiders were desperate for bullpen stability after going through eight different closers in 11 seasons. Tug McGraw settled into the role in 1970, but as good as McGraw was—he won All-UL honors in 1971 and had back-to-back 30-save seasons—he would soon be eclipsed by the young SoCal southpaw.

In 1973, at age 20, Forster broke into the Spiders bullpen and in his second year his 29 saves helped lead San Francisco to its second UL title. He pitched 11 seasons for the Arachnids, led the league in saves in 1978 and 1980, and finished in the top five eight other times. In 1981 he was named to the Team of the Decade, 1971-80. He moved to the Chicago Colts in 1984 and became one of the highest paid relievers in the game. There he posted three of his six 30-save seasons in 1985-87, including 38 saves and a 1.85 ERA on the 1985 playoff team.

Four times he had ERAs under 2.00, including a career-best 1.12 in 58 appearances in 1982 and 1.92 in his last full season in 1987. His 374 saves ranks third all-time. His career 2.53 ERA is the third-best all time for pitchers with at least 500 innings and is 30 points better than the other three members of the 300-save club.

So your vote on Terry Forster is a simple choice: if you believe relief pitchers should be in the Hall of Fame, then Terry Forster should be in the Hall of Fame. (TJS)