Pittsburgh Pirates: Five Best Starting Pitchers Since 1940

Number Two – Bob Friend

Bob Friend spent nearly his entire 15 year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The only year he did not suit up for the Bucs was in 1966 when he played for both the New York Yankees and New York Mets. That happened to also be the last year of his career.

In total, Friend has 3480.1 innings under his belt as a Pittsburgh Pirate. He not only leads the organization in all-time fWAR for pitchers, but innings pitched as well. In total, Friend owned a 3.55 ERA, 3.33 FIP and 1.28 WHIP with the Bucs. Friend clocks in with a 92 ERA+, 108 ERA+ and 99 FIP-.

Now those numbers might not be all that impressive, but Friend struggled early on in his career. After his breakout season in 1955 to his final year in Pittsburgh in 1965, Friend had a 3.29 ERA, 3.15 FIP, and 1.23 WHIP. That accumulates to an 88 ERA-, 86 FIP-, 114 ERA+, and would make him one of two Pirates since 1940 to have both an ERA- and FIP- below 90.

Friend was also a member of the 1960 World Series Championship team. While he did not pitch all that well in that postseason that year (13.50 ERA across 6 innings of work in three appearances) he still played a huge role in getting the Bucs to the Fall Classic in ’60.