How good a hitter was Terry Forster?

[eastchicagosoxfan]

Terry Forster had a .397 career average. In 1972 he hit .526. Was there any talk of turning him into a full time hitter?

[TDog]

Originally Posted by eastchicagosoxfan

Terry Forster had a .397 career average. In 1972 he hit .526. Was there any talk of turning him into a full time hitter?

Chuck Tanner used him as a pinch hitter at least once with the White Sox. It was the difference between hitting .500 and .526. It was in the ninth inning of an end-of-the-season game against the Twins. He was hitting for Hank Allen, Dick Allen's brother, and came through with a game-tying single with two outs in the ninth. Another pitcher, Rich Geddes, who had pinch-run for Ed Herrmann, scored the winning run when Forster attempted to steal second, and the Twins catcher, George Mitterwald, threw the ball into center. Of course, that was a year before the American League voted to experiment with the DH for three years.

I don't think there was ever any talk about Forster becoming a position player. He was a singles hitter, and most of the hits I recall were bloops, but to his credit, he put the bat on the ball. Bobby Thigpen might have been a better hitter if he had hit professionally. Thigpen was an All-American DH and ended his college career with what could have been a game-winning homer with Will Clark and Raphael Palmiero on base, but he gave up a home run in the bottom of the inning to lose the game. Thigpen took batting practice with his first minor league team after signing with the Sox. That ended the next season. If he had come up with a National League team, Thigpen might have some fun offense numbers.

[Chez]

There was never any talk of turning Forster into a full-time hiiter. He ws a stud lefty reliever for most of his career!

[wilburaga]

I've always had an affinity with Terry Forster. He's almost exactly my age, and like me, a southpaw. The first time I saw him was at Yankee Stadium in his fourth big league game. He was brought into a bases loaded no out situation in the bottom of the eleventh and got out of it. (I'll gloss over that he went on to lose the game in the twelfth.)

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1...270NYA1971.htm

[Railsplitter]

I remember being at a game as a little guy and hearing a lady behind me shout "C'mon, Terry, win your own game!"

[Vernam]

I remember a really drunk guy repeatedly yelling "Butkus!" at Forster as he warmed up in the bullpen. Because he wore #51. It wasn't nearly as funny as the guy thought it was. But it must've been somewhat funny for me to remember it 40 years later.