As a 20-year old, Bruce Sutter had arm surgery which placed his pitching career in jeopardy. A few seasons later he learned a revolutionary new pitch: the split-finger fastball, and he rocketed to stardom. He led the National League in saves for four straight seasons, culminating in closing out Game Seven of the 1982 World Series for the Cardinals. An arm injury ended his career in 1988, with exactly 300 saves to his credit.
Quotes About Bruce Sutter
"I don't think Johnny Carson got a lot of hate mail when he signed for $5 million. But Bruce Sutter probably did. Why? Well, Johnny's a lot funnier than Bruce. I mean, Bruce is a wonderful guy, but his Karnak is weak." — pitcher Steve Stone, after Sutter signed a multi-million dollar deal in 1980.
Quotes From Bruce Sutter
"If Fred Martin doesn't show me the splitter, I'm never make it to the Hall of Fame. No way. My other stuff [pitches] were just AA-ball quality."
Teams Bruce Sutter Played For
Chicago Cubs (1976-1980) St. Louis Cardinals (1981-1984) Atlanta Braves (1985-1988)
Where does Bruce Sutter rank among baseball greats?
Bruce Sutter ranks #6 among the Top 50 all-time at RP. Rankings ⇒
Best Season: 1977 In 62 games, Sutter averaged more than two innings per outing, posting a 1.34 ERA. He saved 31 games and surrendered just 69 hits in 107 1/3 IP. His 1984 season was also very, very good.
Factoids In one 39-day period in 1984, Bruce Sutter had more two-inning saves (nine) than Trevor Hoffman had in his entire career, and as many as Mariano Rivera had in his career.
Description Sutter was a tall, lanky pitcher, with long arms and long fingers, which was one of the reasons he could throw the split-fingered fastball so well. He often wore a beard, though he shaved it in Chicago because the Cubs had a policy forbidding facial hair.
Where He Played Sutter became the first pitcher to be elected to the Hall of Fame who had never started at least one game in the big leagues.
Born Howard Bruce Sutter was born on January 8, 1953, in Lancaster, PA.
Uniform Numbers Sutter wore #42 for most of his career, but briefly donned #40 with the Braves, because teammate Rick Mahler refused to part with it.
Family Tree Sutter's son played college baseball and later coached at the college level.
Similar Players No one.
Related Players Sutter has been vocal in his support of Goose Gossage for the Hall of Fame... A fan of the game in retirement, Sutter has praised Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.
Hall of Fame Voting
Year
Election
Votes
Pct
1994
BBWAA
109
24.0%
1995
BBWAA
137
29.8%
1996
BBWAA
137
29.1%
1997
BBWAA
130
27.5%
1998
BBWAA
147
31.1%
1999
BBWAA
121
24.3%
2000
BBWAA
192
38.5%
2001
BBWAA
245
47.6%
2002
BBWAA
238
50.4%
2003
BBWAA
266
53.6%
2004
BBWAA
301
59.5%
2005
BBWAA
344
66.7%
2006
BBWAA
400
76.9%
Post-Season Appearances
1982 National League Championship Series
1982 World Series
The Pitches He Threw Sutter helped make the split-fingered fastball the pitch of the late 1970s and 1980s. Gripped between the index and middle fingers and thrown with a fastball motion, the ball appears to the batter as a fastball until the last few feet, when it tumbles straight down. Jack Morris and Mike Scott both had remarkable success with the pitch in the 1980s. Sutter learned the pitch from Cubs minor league pitching coach Fred Martin.
Post-Season Notes In Game Two of the 1982 World Series, Sutter entered in the 7th inning in a 4-4 tie. He hurled 2 1/3 shutout innings and got the victory. In Game Three he pitched 2 1/3 innings and earned the save. He pitched in a losing cause in Game Five, and got the save in Game Seven.
Injuries and Explanation for Missed Playing Time In 1972, when he suffered his arm injury in the minor leagues, Sutter paid for his own operation, hoping to keep the seriousness of the injury quiet.
Best Strength as a Player The ability to control the split-fingered fastball. He threw it in such a way that it was almost unhittable.
Largest Weakness as a Player Sutter had a below-average major league fastball. However, since his splitter was so good, he could often throw his fastball outside of the strike zone and coax over-eager batters into chasing it. When he fanned Gorman Thomas for the final out of the 1982 World Series, Sutter threw a high fastball.
Sources used for the Bruce Sutter Player Page: Gabriel Schechter of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum provided data on saves and blown saves, from his groundbreaking research on the subject of closers and usage of relief pitchers.
