Fred Norman, like his counterpart Juan Berenguer, filled the role of fourth starter/spot reliever. In the day when four man rotations were more normal then five man rotations, the fourth starter was usually called upon to take on this dual role.

Norman had a pretty unspectactular career. He had solid seasons from 1974-1977, and was in the top six in strikeouts per nine innings in three of those four seasons. He ended his career just a touch above .500 with a 104-103 record, and was right around the league average in ERA (career ERA+ of 98).

In 1975, Norman ate up quite a few innings as the teams’ number four guy (188), and finished with the third best winning percentage in the National League with a 12-4 record (.750). He was 10th in the league in H/9, but suffered against the long ball and gave up his share of walks.

Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Innings Pitched 188
Wins 12
Losses 4
ERA 3.73
ERA+ 96
WHIP 1.314
H/9 7.80
BB/9 4.02
SO/9 5.70
HR/9 1.10
Pitching Runs Above Replacement 28
Stuff 7

This might be the toughest one yet. In the more traditional categories, Norman did pretty well. He won one more game then Berenguer, lost six less, and threw almost twenty innings more. He also had a slightly better WHIP.

But Berenguer had a better ERA, a better strikeout rate, and a much better homerun rate. On top of that, Berenguer was worth 43 runs above replacement, in twenty fewer innings, and almost doubled up Norman’s Stuff with a 13.

Errrr, I’m going to have to give this one to the Tigers. I’m too sabermetrically inclined to delude myself otherwise.

Scorecard – 1975 Reds 6, 1984 Tigers 6

So for the first time, we’re tied. I kind of figured this would happen once we got to the pitchers. You can read Brian’s analysis of Juan Berenguer at Tigerblog.

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