2 good years followed by 4 of the best years in pitching history.
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Somewhat true.
The only reason Koufax's run did not extend further is that he retired young (30) due to injury. Basically, he was also voted in because of what could have happened, such as Addie Joss (imagine the number he could have put up...).
Foster, on the other hand, continued his career for quite a while after his monster run - much of it being injury free, I believe, though the '81 strike did rob him of potentially another large year.
Foster's number decline came mostly due to age (his numbers drop off significantly after 33), and arguably a departure from Cincinnati and appearance with the Mets.
Baseball reference compares his stats to Gil Hodges, Willy Horton, Tino Martinez, Jack Clark and Del Ennis. Five very good players, but none are quite HOF caliber.
Nope. Terrific player and great guy though. His terrible drop off after going to NY didn't help his cause.
Code:GEORGE FOSTER
GIVEN NAME: George Arthur Foster
BORN: 12/1/1948 Tuscaloosa, Alabama
BAT: R THROW: R HEIGHT: 6'1" WEIGHT: 180 MLB DEBUT: 9/10/1969
CAREER GAMES BY POSITION: 1B: 2 LF: 1534 CF: 267 RF: 178 DH: 3
YEAR TEAM AGE G AB R H 2B 3B HR HR% RBI BB SO SB CS AVG SLG OBA OPS
1969 Giants 20 9 5 1 2 0 0 0 0.00 1 0 1 0 0 .400 .400 .400 .800
1970 Giants 21 9 19 2 6 1 1 1 5.26 4 2 5 0 0 .316 .632 .381 1.013
1971 Giants 22 36 105 11 28 5 0 3 2.86 8 6 27 0 1 .267 .400 .304 .704
Reds 22 104 368 39 86 18 4 10 2.72 50 23 93 7 6 .234 .386 .289 .675
TOTALS 140 473 50 114 23 4 13 2.75 58 29 120 7 7 .241 .389 .292 .681
1972 Reds 23 59 145 15 29 4 1 2 1.38 12 5 44 2 1 .200 .283 .230 .513
1973 Reds 24 17 39 6 11 3 0 4 10.26 9 4 7 0 1 .282 .667 .349 1.016
1974 Reds 25 106 276 31 73 18 0 7 2.54 41 30 52 3 2 .264 .406 .343 .749
1975 Reds 26 134 463 71 139 24 4 23 4.97 78 40 73 2 1 .300 .518 .356 .875
1976 Reds 27 144 562 86 172 21 9 29 5.16 121 52 89 17 3 .306 .530 .364 .894
1977 Reds 28 158 615 124 197 31 2 52 8.46 149 61 107 6 4 .320 .631 .382 1.013
1978 Reds 29 158 604 97 170 26 7 40 6.62 120 70 138 4 4 .281 .546 .360 .906
1979 Reds 30 121 440 68 133 18 3 30 6.82 98 59 105 0 2 .302 .561 .386 .948
1980 Reds 31 144 528 79 144 21 5 25 4.73 93 75 99 1 0 .273 .473 .362 .835
1981 Reds 32 108 414 64 122 23 2 22 5.31 90 51 75 4 0 .295 .519 .373 .892
1982 Mets 33 151 550 64 136 23 2 13 2.36 70 50 123 1 1 .247 .367 .309 .676
1983 Mets 34 157 601 74 145 19 2 28 4.66 90 38 111 1 1 .241 .419 .289 .708
1984 Mets 35 146 553 67 149 22 1 24 4.34 86 30 122 2 2 .269 .443 .311 .754
1985 Mets 36 129 452 57 119 24 1 21 4.65 77 46 87 0 1 .263 .460 .331 .792
1986 Mets 37 72 233 28 53 6 1 13 5.58 38 21 53 1 1 .227 .429 .289 .718
White Sox 37 15 51 2 11 0 2 1 1.96 4 3 8 0 0 .216 .353 .259 .612
TOTALS 87 284 30 64 6 3 14 4.93 42 24 61 1 1 .225 .415 .284 .699
TOTALS 1977 7023 986 1925 307 47 348 4.96 1239 666 1419 51 31 .274 .480 .338 .818
LG AVERAGE 6855 856 1808 302 52 147 2.14 795 680 976 169 82 .264 .387 .331 .718
POS AVERAGE 6931 944 1882 313 61 171 2.47 850 728 1106 246 100 .271 .409 .341 .750
YEAR TEAM RC RCAA RCAP OWP RC/G TB EBH ISO SEC BPA IBB HBP SAC SF GIDP OUTS PA POS
1969 Giants 1 1 0 .782 9.00 2 0 .000 .000 .400 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 RF
1970 Giants 4 2 1 .706 7.71 12 3 .316 .421 .619 1 0 0 0 1 14 21 LF
1971 Giants 11 -2 -4 .416 3.58 42 8 .133 .190 .384 1 0 0 1 4 83 112 LF
Reds 36 -10 -13 .381 3.16 142 32 .152 .234 .392 2 7 1 3 16 308 402 CF
TOTALS 47 -12 -17 .389 3.25 184 40 .148 .224 .390 3 7 1 4 20 391 514
1972 Reds 8 -10 -11 .184 1.74 41 7 .083 .131 .276 1 1 0 1 6 124 152 RF
1973 Reds 8 3 3 .732 7.20 26 7 .385 .487 .651 0 0 0 0 1 30 43 CF
1974 Reds 37 2 -3 .523 4.60 112 25 .141 .261 .446 5 4 2 2 8 217 314 RF
1975 Reds 81 22 19 .634 6.36 240 51 .218 .309 .528 11 3 0 5 14 344 511 LF
1976 Reds 110 43 32 .707 7.19 298 59 .224 .347 .569 4 4 0 9 11 413 627 LF
1977 Reds 143 63 54 .738 8.64 388 85 .311 .420 .637 10 5 0 8 17 447 689 LF
1978 Reds 113 35 26 .656 6.60 330 73 .265 .387 .566 16 7 0 6 18 462 687 LF
1979 Reds 93 39 35 .728 7.77 247 51 .259 .393 .586 7 3 0 3 11 323 505 LF
1980 Reds 90 22 10 .621 6.04 250 51 .201 .345 .515 14 1 0 4 14 402 608 LF
1981 Reds 80 31 22 .703 7.01 215 47 .225 .357 .553 5 3 0 4 12 308 472 LF
1982 Mets 61 -10 -9 .428 3.79 202 38 .120 .213 .396 9 2 0 6 13 434 608 LF
1983 Mets 67 -12 -22 .420 3.77 252 49 .178 .243 .425 5 4 0 4 19 480 647 LF
1984 Mets 72 3 -3 .513 4.56 245 47 .174 .231 .449 9 6 0 6 14 426 595 LF
1985 Mets 68 14 7 .602 5.31 208 46 .197 .299 .490 5 2 0 4 8 346 504 LF
1986 Mets 27 -3 -7 .451 3.84 100 20 .202 .296 .445 1 0 0 2 7 190 256 LF
White Sox 4 -3 -4 .248 2.57 18 3 .137 .196 .352 0 0 0 0 2 42 54 LF
TOTALS 31 -6 -11 .416 3.61 118 23 .190 .278 .429 1 0 0 2 9 232 310
TOTALS 1114 230 133 .598 5.57 3370 702 .206 .308 .501 106 52 3 68 196 5396 7812
LG AVERAGE 890 0 0 .500 4.45 2654 500 .123 .247 .433 86 34 56 59 153 5396 7683
POS AVERAGE 988 97 0 .541 4.94 2832 546 .137 .278 .464 74 37 39 62 147 5396 7796
Sabermetric Baseball Encyclopedia
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I hate to say it because I really liked George as a Red but....no. He doesn't belong in the HOF.
I guessing that if someone asked George, straight up, 'do you belong in the HOF?', he'd give a straight up answer and say "No".
Rem
The highest vote total Foster received for HOF induction was 6.9% , a far cry from the needed 75%.
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/pl...layerId=114333
One word. No.
It wasn't unanimous. In fact it was pretty close.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/aw...77.shtml#NLmvp
Reds HOF sure, MLB HOF, no, not close.
The Baseball HoF in Cooperstown is for mere mortals, and thus not worthy of George's presence.
George should instead have a spot on Mount Olympus.
No way.
I don't think Dave Parker deserves to be in either, but he's much more deserving than Foster, as far as Reds sluggers of the past 40 years go.
It hadn't occurred to me that George Foster hit more than 30 home runs in a season only twice in his career.