Bob Forsch

Holy crap--a second untimely death in two days as Bob Forsch passes away shortly after throwing out the first pitch at Game 7 of the World Series a week ago.

That's incredibly sad--my thoughts go out to his family and to Cardinals fans.

I know that Raphy is writing some details about Forsch's career. Other than the multiple no-hitters, the thing that I always remember about Forsch's stats was how lucky he was to win 20 games in 1977.

Click through for the details.

Here are the lowest ERA+ values for a pitcher since 1950 to win at least 20 games while having fewer than 10 losses:

Rk	Player	ERA+	W	L	Year	Age	Tm	G	GS	CG	SHO	GF	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	Steve Carlton	102	20	9	1971	26	STL	37	36	18	4	0	273.1	275	120	108	98	172	3.56
2	Jack Morris	102	21	6	1992	37	TOR	34	34	6	1	0	240.2	222	114	108	80	132	4.04
3	Mike Cuellar	105	24	8	1970	33	BAL	40	40	21	4	0	297.2	273	126	115	69	190	3.48
4	John Burkett	107	22	7	1993	28	SFG	34	34	2	1	0	231.2	224	100	94	40	145	3.65
5	Bob Grim	107	20	6	1954	24	NYY	37	20	8	1	8	199.0	175	78	72	85	108	3.26
6	Tom Browning	107	20	9	1985	25	CIN	38	38	6	4	0	261.1	242	111	103	73	155	3.55
7	Catfish Hunter	107	21	5	1973	27	OAK	36	36	11	3	0	256.1	222	105	95	69	124	3.34
8	Bill Gullickson	108	20	9	1991	32	DET	35	35	4	0	0	226.1	256	109	98	44	91	3.90
9	Vic Raschi	108	21	8	1950	31	NYY	33	32	17	2	1	256.2	232	120	114	116	155	4.00
10	Mudcat Grant	108	21	7	1965	29	MIN	41	39	14	6	0	270.1	252	107	99	61	142	3.30
11	Bob Feller	109	22	8	1951	32	CLE	33	32	16	4	1	249.2	239	105	97	95	111	3.50
12	Vida Blue	109	20	9	1973	23	OAK	37	37	13	4	0	263.2	214	108	96	105	158	3.28
13	Rick Helling	109	20	7	1998	27	TEX	33	33	4	2	0	216.1	209	109	106	78	164	4.41
14	Jon Lieber	109	20	6	2001	31	CHC	34	34	5	1	0	232.1	226	104	98	41	148	3.80
15	Rick Sutcliffe	109	20	6	1984	28	TOT	35	35	9	3	0	244.2	234	113	99	85	213	3.64
16	Mike Cuellar	109	20	9	1971	34	BAL	38	38	21	4	0	292.1	250	111	100	78	124	3.08
17	Andy Pettitte	110	21	8	2003	31	NYY	33	33	1	0	0	208.1	227	109	93	50	180	4.02
18	Jack Sanford	111	24	7	1962	33	SFG	39	38	13	2	1	265.1	233	110	101	92	147	3.43
19	Jim Lonborg	112	22	9	1967	25	BOS	39	39	15	2	0	273.1	228	102	96	83	246	3.16
20	Bob Forsch	112	20	7	1977	27	STL	35	35	8	2	0	217.1	210	97	84	69	95	3.48
21	Dave Stewart	112	21	9	1989	32	OAK	36	36	8	0	0	257.2	260	105	95	69	155	3.32
22	Dave McNally	112	20	7	1969	26	BAL	41	40	11	4	0	268.2	232	103	96	84	166	3.22

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/4/2011.

These are just about all really lucky seasons, in that the pitchers got a lot of run support or were the beneficiary of well above-average bullpen work.

That's not true for Jack Morris, of course...he just pitched to the score :)