Comps To The End

Life can be a strange thing, death too I suppose. Consider the case of Paul Splittorff, Mike Flanagan and Bob Forsch, three statistically similar pitchers from the same era. They are each others top comps at baseball-reference.com and all three have passed away this year. I honestly don't know how unusual this is, it actually may not be, but I found it interesting nonetheless.

Name	W	L	ERA	IP	ERA+	WHIP	H/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
Splittorff	166	143	3.81	2554.2	101	1.340	9.3	2.7	3.7	1.36
Flanagan	167	143	3.90	2770.0	100	1.334	9.1	2.9	4.8	1.68
Forsch	168	136	3.76	2794.1	98	1.291	8.9	2.7	3.6	1.36

If you missed my interview with former Royals broadcaster Denny Trease you can check that out here. Denny recalls Splitt the pitcher and covers the smooth transition from the mound to the booth. I still believe that Trease/Splitt remain the top TV duo in the team's history.