RetroSimba

(Updated Nov. 2, 2019)

The Cardinals planned for Bob Forsch to be a third baseman, not a pitcher.

Forsch was chosen by the Cardinals in the 26th round of the 1968 amateur draft and sent to their Gulf Coast League team in Sarasota. Forsch, 18, played third base and some outfield. His instructors included George Kissell and Joe Medwick. Forsch displayed a strong arm but batted .224 in 44 games.

In the book “Tales From The Cardinals Dugout,” Forsch described his first day as a professional ballplayer:

I had sort of thought I was going to Florida on a vacation to play baseball. And so I went to the minor-league complex and they gave me a uniform. It was wool. And it had patches in the seat from where other guys had ripped it up while they were sliding. They didn’t have enough caps, because there were too many players. So I got a batting helmet and put that on.

In 1969, Forsch continued to play third base but hit .203 in 26 games for Lewiston of the Northwest League and .235 in 33 games for Modesto of the California League.

At age 20, his playing career was in jeopardy after he opened the 1970 season by hitting .149 in 20 games for Modesto, striking out 21 times in 47 at-bats. Forsch was moved to Cedar Rapids of the Midwest League and did even worse, hitting .088 through 19 games.

Short of pitchers, manager Roy Majtyka put Forsch into a game as a reliever against Clinton. Forsch had pitched in batting practice for Cedar Rapids and had posted a 9-1 record as a pitcher during his senior year in high school at Sacramento, Calif.

The first Clinton batter Forsch faced was Bob Hansen, who would become a first baseman with the Brewers. Forsch’s first pitch sailed over Hansen’s head.

“Mick Kelleher, our shortstop, came over to me and said, ‘Come on, Bob, you can throw it by him,’ ” Forsch told The Sporting News in 1974. “Hansen hit the next pitch for the longest home run I’ve ever seen, even though I threw the ball as hard as I could.”

Forsch worked three innings and gave up six hits and four runs, but his career as a pitcher had begun. The Cardinals sent him to Lewiston and instructed manager Fred Hatfield to use Forsch as a pitcher. In seven games, five as a starter, Forsch was 2-3 with a 4.94 ERA.

When Forsch reported to spring training in 1971, he didn’t know whether the Cardinals planned to employ him as a pitcher or as a third baseman because the Cardinals had a shortage of third basemen in their farm system.

Bob Kennedy, a former big-league player and manager, was the Cardinals’ director of player development and he made the decision Forsch would be converted exclusively to pitching.

Forsch was 11-7 with a 3.13 ERA for Cedar Rapids in 1971 and 8-10, including a no-hitter, for Arkansas in 1972. After the 1972 season, he went to the Florida Instructional League and posted a 7-1 record while working with instructor Bob Milliken.

Forsch was 12-12, including another no-hitter, for Tulsa in 1973.

Playing for manager Ken Boyer at Tulsa in 1974, Forsch was 8-5 with a 3.67 ERA in 15 games when the Cardinals, on the recommendation of Kennedy, called him to the major leagues in July. “He threw hardest and had an excellent curve,” Kennedy explained.

Said Forsch: “I didn’t even know how to throw a curve until Bob Milliken showed me how at the Florida Instructional League.”