Houston Astros

First Impression; Pretty sweet action shot. They had the good photographer at this game. Nice shot of the first baseman behind him, he is mostly in focus and they captured a great pose during his delivery.

Location: Mound.

Date of birth: September 8, 1946

Career stats: Ken Forsched his way into the rotation for the Astros in 1971 and had middling success. In 1974 they moved him to essentially the closer role for 5 years. He had 19 saves and was a National League All Star in 1976, he then made the American All Star squad in 1981. In 1979 he was a starter again and led the American League in shutouts with 4 in 1981 (with the Angels). The season relevant to this card, 1981, he was on the Angels after being traded for Dickie Thon. His career record was 114-113.

All Time Stat: One thing jumped out to me and that was he only struck out 58 batters in 1979 pitching 177 and 2/3 innings. That is 2.94 strikeouts per nine innings. He had a lower one in 1982 2.88 where he struck out 73 but in 228 innings. Joe Niekro had a worse year, more to come.

Fun Fact: He pitched in the very first game in Houston Astros history under the “Astros” name.
When the Colt .45s rebranded as the Astros in 1965, Ken was part of the early wave of pitchers who defined the franchise’s identity in the Dome.

Links to stories including Forsch.