ChinMusic22
Apr 14th 2007, 9:09 am
Lets' get a little more recent... One of the first closers (and one hell of a beard), Bruce Sutter.
Bruce Sutter
Howard Bruce Sutter
Born: January 8, 1953, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
ML Debut: 5/9/1976
Primary Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats: R Throws: R Primary Uniform #: 42
Played For: Chicago Cubs (1976-1980), St. Louis Cardinals (1981-1984), Atlanta Braves (1985-1986, 1988)
Primary Team: Chicago Cubs
Post-Season: 1982 NLCS, 1982 World Series
Awards: All-Star (6): 1977-1981, 1984
Bio:
Bruce Sutter was on the fringes of professional baseball, a struggling minor league pitcher with an injured arm, until he received a gift that changed his life forever. A new pitch, a split-fingered fastball, was taught to him by a wise, old man of the game, and in a matter of years, Sutter took this new weapon and blazed a trail as one of the game's top relief pitchers.
Howard Bruce Sutter was born on January 8, 1953, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, the star right-hander was selected by the Washington Senators in the 21st round of the 1970 free-agent draft. Instead of signing a professional baseball contract, Sutter opted for college, enrolling at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He returned home after less than a year away and began playing baseball for the semipro Hippey's Raiders in the Lebanon Valley League. Discovered by Chicago Cubs scout Ralph DiLullo, Sutter signed as a free agent with the club on September 9, 1971, for a $500 bonus and a $500-a-month salary and headed to Florida to play with the Bradenton Cubs of the Gulf Coast League.
As fate would have it, Sutter suffered an arm injury after only two minor league games, but it may have been the best thing for his future. His elbow injury did not allow him to pitch again in 1972, so after heading home, he started a job in a plant that did the printing for cigar boxes. Without the Cubs knowledge, he had the pinched nerve in his elbow operated on, but when he came back to spring training in 1973 his fastball was gone.
He had been a fastball-curveball pitcher until then, but now, needing to learn another pitch, he met the man who would change his life. Cubs roving minor league pitching coach Fred Martin, who had been a pitcher with the big league Cardinals in late 1940s and early '50s, took his new student with exceptionally large hands under his wing and taught him a derivation of the forkball called the split-fingered fastball, a devastating pitch in which the pitcher's thumb pushes the ball out from between his wide-spread fingers, imparting a wicked forward spin to the ball. "When I used to throw hard, I would split my fingers when I threw my change-up," Sutter said. "But I never used my thumb, the way I do with the split-fingered fastball. The pitch has spin on it, so it's harder for the hitter to tell whether it's a fastball or a split-finger. They say that if the hitters just laid off of it, it'd fall out of the strike zone. But it's hard to lay off, because they have to make that decision in a split second."
Desperate to remain in the game, Sutter embraced this new pitch, which would look like a fastball to the batter before suddenly dropping as it crossed the plate, soon gaining enough confidence and control of it to use it in a game. Where he had mediocre success with his previous repertoire, his new split-fingered fastball gave him positive results almost immediately. Playing for the Class-A Quincy Cubs of the Midwest League in 1973, Sutter appeared in 40 games, all in relief, compiling a 3-3 record, five saves, a 4.13 ERA, and 76 strikeouts with only 27 walks in 85 innings pitched.
"The elbow surgery was probably the best thing that ever happened to me," Sutter said. "Because of it, I got to meet Fred Martin."
The results were even better in 1974, where he divided his time between the Class-A Key West Conchs of the Florida State League and the Class-AA Midland Cubs of the Texas League, where he compiled an earned-run average that was under 1.50 while striking out 64 and walking 19 in 65 innings of work. Of his 26 games pitched that season were two starting assignments, the only ones of his professional baseball career.
After another year with Midland in 1975, where his 13 saves tied for the Texas League lead, he began 1976 with the Class-AAA Wichita Aeros of the American Association, the highest rung in the Cubs' minor league system. After a fast start, where he had two wins, one save, a 1.50 ERA, while striking out 16 and walking only two in 12 innings of work, he was called up to the majors for the first time. Though he made his big league debut in a mop-up role against the Reds on May 9, 1976, the 23-year-old Sutter soon found himself closing games, finishing that initial campaign with a 6-3 record in 52 games, 10 saves, and a 2.70 ERA.
By 1977 Sutter was entrenched as the Cubs' closer, finishing with 31 saves, a 1.35 ERA, and his first of six All-Star Game invitations. He also tied a major league record by striking out the side on nine pitches in a ninth inning appearance against the Expos on September 8, 1977, the same game he tied a National League record for most consecutive strikeouts by a relief pitcher in a game with six. In 1978, he had 27 saves and was the winning pitcher in the All-Star Game.
People in the game were stunned by the effectiveness of the new pitch. "It's unhittable," said Montreal manager Dick Williams, "unless he hangs it, and he never does. It's worse than trying to hit a knuckleball." "It's incredible, said future Hall of Famer Lou Brock. "You'd think that if a guy stayed around long enough, he'd learn how to hit it. But no one has."
It all came together in 1979, as he won the NL Cy Young Award, becoming only the third relief pitcher at the time, after Mike Marshall (1974) and Sparky Lyle (1977), to be so honored. His season was remarkable; with his six wins and 37 saves he had a hand in 43 of the Cubs' 80 victories. Also, his NL-high 37 saves tied the Senior Circuit record held by Clay Carroll and Rollie Fingers, and he won the All-Star Game for the second straight year. "He's the greatest relief pitcher that I've seen in my 45 years in baseball," said Herman Franks, the Cubs' manager at the time.
It was around this time that Sutter began using Cubs pitching coach Mike Roarke as a confidante regarding the split-fingered fastball, and this student-teacher relationship would last for many years.
Sutter took the Cubs to salary arbitration after his stellar 1979 campaign and was awarded a $700,000 salary for 1980, an unheard of amount for a relief pitcher at the time. Though he would continue his success that season, leading the league with his 28 saves, he would be dealt to the Cardinals for third baseman Ken Reitz, outfielder/first baseman Leon Durham and third baseman Ty Waller on December 9, 1980. Hoping he was the missing piece of their puzzle, on January 26, 1981, Sutter became the highest paid relief pitcher in baseball history when he signed a four-year contract for an estimated $3.5 million with St. Louis.
The next four seasons were good ones for both Sutter and the Cards, as he averaged almost 32 saves over the length of the contract and St. Louis won the 1982 World Series. Sutter topped the NL in saves three times during this time (25 in 1981, 36 in 1982 and 45 in 1984), establishing a NL record for most saves in a season with his 45 in 1984. The 1984 season was also remarkable in that Sutter retired 55 of 71 first batters he faced and only nine of 45 inherited runners he allowed to score.
A career highlight for Sutter came in Game Seven of the 1982 World Series when he recorded the final six outs against the Brewers to give the Redbirds their first World Championship since 1967. Sutter appeared in four of the seven games, recording a win and two saves.
"He was the most important guy on our team when we won," said Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog. "The way the game is today, you're trying to cut the other team down to 21 outs to beat you. When you do that, you've got a great chance. Bruce can do that."
Sutter left the Cardinals after 1984 to sign a six-year, $10 million free-agent deal with the Braves, but inconsistency and injuries marked his tenure in Atlanta. After recording 23 saves and a 4.48 ERA in 1985, Sutter had his first shoulder operation in the off-season. He missed the last five months of 1986 and all of 1987 with a partial rotator-cuff tear, made a comeback in 1988 to pitch in 38 games, and finally retired after a complete rotator-cuff tear was found in his right shoulder in March 1989.
In many respects, Sutter, armed with a revolutionary pitch, was the dominant relief pitcher of his era. When the six-time All-Star left the game at the age of 35 after a 12-year big league career, he was third on major league baseball's all-time save list with 300 (behind Rollie Fingers' 341 and Rich Gossage's 302). He was the first NL pitcher to reach the 200 and 300-save plateaus. He finished with a 68-71 record, pitching in 661 games, recording 861 strikeouts and 309 walks in 1,042 1/3 innings pitched, with a 2.83 ERA.
Unlike today, when closers rarely go more than an inning at a time, Sutter was often pitching two innings or more for his saves, averaging over 100 innings a season during his prime. From 1977 to 1984, arguably his best years, opposing batters hit .224 against Sutter. He led the NL in saves five times in six years from 1979 to 1984, coming away with the NL's Rolaids Relief Award and The Sporting News' Fireman of the Year four times (1979, 1981-2, 1984). Besides winning the 1979 NL Cy Young Award, he finished in the top six four other times. He also finished in the top 10 in NL MVP voting five times.
Did You Know... that Bruce Sutter is the first major league pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame who never started at least one game?
Bruce Sutter
Howard Bruce Sutter
Born: January 8, 1953, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
ML Debut: 5/9/1976
Primary Position: Relief Pitcher
Bats: R Throws: R Primary Uniform #: 42
Played For: Chicago Cubs (1976-1980), St. Louis Cardinals (1981-1984), Atlanta Braves (1985-1986, 1988)
Primary Team: Chicago Cubs
Post-Season: 1982 NLCS, 1982 World Series
Awards: All-Star (6): 1977-1981, 1984
Bio:
Bruce Sutter was on the fringes of professional baseball, a struggling minor league pitcher with an injured arm, until he received a gift that changed his life forever. A new pitch, a split-fingered fastball, was taught to him by a wise, old man of the game, and in a matter of years, Sutter took this new weapon and blazed a trail as one of the game's top relief pitchers.
Howard Bruce Sutter was born on January 8, 1953, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, the star right-hander was selected by the Washington Senators in the 21st round of the 1970 free-agent draft. Instead of signing a professional baseball contract, Sutter opted for college, enrolling at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He returned home after less than a year away and began playing baseball for the semipro Hippey's Raiders in the Lebanon Valley League. Discovered by Chicago Cubs scout Ralph DiLullo, Sutter signed as a free agent with the club on September 9, 1971, for a $500 bonus and a $500-a-month salary and headed to Florida to play with the Bradenton Cubs of the Gulf Coast League.
As fate would have it, Sutter suffered an arm injury after only two minor league games, but it may have been the best thing for his future. His elbow injury did not allow him to pitch again in 1972, so after heading home, he started a job in a plant that did the printing for cigar boxes. Without the Cubs knowledge, he had the pinched nerve in his elbow operated on, but when he came back to spring training in 1973 his fastball was gone.
He had been a fastball-curveball pitcher until then, but now, needing to learn another pitch, he met the man who would change his life. Cubs roving minor league pitching coach Fred Martin, who had been a pitcher with the big league Cardinals in late 1940s and early '50s, took his new student with exceptionally large hands under his wing and taught him a derivation of the forkball called the split-fingered fastball, a devastating pitch in which the pitcher's thumb pushes the ball out from between his wide-spread fingers, imparting a wicked forward spin to the ball. "When I used to throw hard, I would split my fingers when I threw my change-up," Sutter said. "But I never used my thumb, the way I do with the split-fingered fastball. The pitch has spin on it, so it's harder for the hitter to tell whether it's a fastball or a split-finger. They say that if the hitters just laid off of it, it'd fall out of the strike zone. But it's hard to lay off, because they have to make that decision in a split second."
Desperate to remain in the game, Sutter embraced this new pitch, which would look like a fastball to the batter before suddenly dropping as it crossed the plate, soon gaining enough confidence and control of it to use it in a game. Where he had mediocre success with his previous repertoire, his new split-fingered fastball gave him positive results almost immediately. Playing for the Class-A Quincy Cubs of the Midwest League in 1973, Sutter appeared in 40 games, all in relief, compiling a 3-3 record, five saves, a 4.13 ERA, and 76 strikeouts with only 27 walks in 85 innings pitched.
"The elbow surgery was probably the best thing that ever happened to me," Sutter said. "Because of it, I got to meet Fred Martin."
The results were even better in 1974, where he divided his time between the Class-A Key West Conchs of the Florida State League and the Class-AA Midland Cubs of the Texas League, where he compiled an earned-run average that was under 1.50 while striking out 64 and walking 19 in 65 innings of work. Of his 26 games pitched that season were two starting assignments, the only ones of his professional baseball career.
After another year with Midland in 1975, where his 13 saves tied for the Texas League lead, he began 1976 with the Class-AAA Wichita Aeros of the American Association, the highest rung in the Cubs' minor league system. After a fast start, where he had two wins, one save, a 1.50 ERA, while striking out 16 and walking only two in 12 innings of work, he was called up to the majors for the first time. Though he made his big league debut in a mop-up role against the Reds on May 9, 1976, the 23-year-old Sutter soon found himself closing games, finishing that initial campaign with a 6-3 record in 52 games, 10 saves, and a 2.70 ERA.
By 1977 Sutter was entrenched as the Cubs' closer, finishing with 31 saves, a 1.35 ERA, and his first of six All-Star Game invitations. He also tied a major league record by striking out the side on nine pitches in a ninth inning appearance against the Expos on September 8, 1977, the same game he tied a National League record for most consecutive strikeouts by a relief pitcher in a game with six. In 1978, he had 27 saves and was the winning pitcher in the All-Star Game.
People in the game were stunned by the effectiveness of the new pitch. "It's unhittable," said Montreal manager Dick Williams, "unless he hangs it, and he never does. It's worse than trying to hit a knuckleball." "It's incredible, said future Hall of Famer Lou Brock. "You'd think that if a guy stayed around long enough, he'd learn how to hit it. But no one has."
It all came together in 1979, as he won the NL Cy Young Award, becoming only the third relief pitcher at the time, after Mike Marshall (1974) and Sparky Lyle (1977), to be so honored. His season was remarkable; with his six wins and 37 saves he had a hand in 43 of the Cubs' 80 victories. Also, his NL-high 37 saves tied the Senior Circuit record held by Clay Carroll and Rollie Fingers, and he won the All-Star Game for the second straight year. "He's the greatest relief pitcher that I've seen in my 45 years in baseball," said Herman Franks, the Cubs' manager at the time.
It was around this time that Sutter began using Cubs pitching coach Mike Roarke as a confidante regarding the split-fingered fastball, and this student-teacher relationship would last for many years.
Sutter took the Cubs to salary arbitration after his stellar 1979 campaign and was awarded a $700,000 salary for 1980, an unheard of amount for a relief pitcher at the time. Though he would continue his success that season, leading the league with his 28 saves, he would be dealt to the Cardinals for third baseman Ken Reitz, outfielder/first baseman Leon Durham and third baseman Ty Waller on December 9, 1980. Hoping he was the missing piece of their puzzle, on January 26, 1981, Sutter became the highest paid relief pitcher in baseball history when he signed a four-year contract for an estimated $3.5 million with St. Louis.
The next four seasons were good ones for both Sutter and the Cards, as he averaged almost 32 saves over the length of the contract and St. Louis won the 1982 World Series. Sutter topped the NL in saves three times during this time (25 in 1981, 36 in 1982 and 45 in 1984), establishing a NL record for most saves in a season with his 45 in 1984. The 1984 season was also remarkable in that Sutter retired 55 of 71 first batters he faced and only nine of 45 inherited runners he allowed to score.
A career highlight for Sutter came in Game Seven of the 1982 World Series when he recorded the final six outs against the Brewers to give the Redbirds their first World Championship since 1967. Sutter appeared in four of the seven games, recording a win and two saves.
"He was the most important guy on our team when we won," said Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog. "The way the game is today, you're trying to cut the other team down to 21 outs to beat you. When you do that, you've got a great chance. Bruce can do that."
Sutter left the Cardinals after 1984 to sign a six-year, $10 million free-agent deal with the Braves, but inconsistency and injuries marked his tenure in Atlanta. After recording 23 saves and a 4.48 ERA in 1985, Sutter had his first shoulder operation in the off-season. He missed the last five months of 1986 and all of 1987 with a partial rotator-cuff tear, made a comeback in 1988 to pitch in 38 games, and finally retired after a complete rotator-cuff tear was found in his right shoulder in March 1989.
In many respects, Sutter, armed with a revolutionary pitch, was the dominant relief pitcher of his era. When the six-time All-Star left the game at the age of 35 after a 12-year big league career, he was third on major league baseball's all-time save list with 300 (behind Rollie Fingers' 341 and Rich Gossage's 302). He was the first NL pitcher to reach the 200 and 300-save plateaus. He finished with a 68-71 record, pitching in 661 games, recording 861 strikeouts and 309 walks in 1,042 1/3 innings pitched, with a 2.83 ERA.
Unlike today, when closers rarely go more than an inning at a time, Sutter was often pitching two innings or more for his saves, averaging over 100 innings a season during his prime. From 1977 to 1984, arguably his best years, opposing batters hit .224 against Sutter. He led the NL in saves five times in six years from 1979 to 1984, coming away with the NL's Rolaids Relief Award and The Sporting News' Fireman of the Year four times (1979, 1981-2, 1984). Besides winning the 1979 NL Cy Young Award, he finished in the top six four other times. He also finished in the top 10 in NL MVP voting five times.
Did You Know... that Bruce Sutter is the first major league pitcher elected to the Hall of Fame who never started at least one game?