Bruce Sutter

Howard Bruce Sutter was born on January 8, 1953, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The son of Howard and Thelma Sutter, he is the fifth born of the six children in his family. Sutter’s natural athletic ability was apparent in his youth. He was considered a top athlete in high school when he attended Donegal High School, in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. He performed at a high level in football, basketball, and baseball. As a member of his high school football team, he was the team captain, and in his senior season he was named in his district as the outstanding quarterback. Sutter was also a captain on his high school’s basketball team. He was able to assist his high school basketball team in winning their district championship as a senior. Finally, Sutter was the star right-handed pitcher on his high school baseball team. He led his high school baseball team to the county championship, and also was able to lead his American Legion team to their district title.

Fresh out of high school, Sutter was drafted in the 1970 free agent draft. He was selected by the Washington Senators in the 21st round of the draft. He passed up on a baseball career to attend college at Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, Virginia. After his first year at Old Dominion, Sutter quit and returned home. It was at home where he began playing organized baseball again for the semipro Hippey’s Raiders.

While playing for Hippey’s Raiders, Sutter caught the eye of the Chicago Cubs’ Ralph DiLullo. It was not long before Sutter signed his first professional baseball contract on September 9, 1971 with the Cubs as a free agent. Sutter’s first minor league assignment was in the Gulf Coast League playing for the Bradenton Cubs.

On May 9, 1976, at the age of 23, Bruce Sutter made his major league debut against the Cincinnati Reds. Sutter almost instantly became the closer for the Chicago Cubs, and set a record of 6-3 in 52 games with 10 saves and a 2.70 ERA in his first season. In 1977, he recorded 31 saves and was elected to his first All-Star Game. He followed that great season with another one in 1978 when he recorded 27 saves and was the winning pitcher in the All-Star Game. In 1979, Sutter continued to play baseball at the highest possible level with 37 saves, which tied the single season record in the National League. In 1979, Sutter also became the third relief pitcher ever to win the National League Cy Young Award, which is awarded to the best pitcher in the National League. He was also able to record his second straight All-Star Game win. In 1980 he saved 28 games, which led the National League. After the 1980 season, Sutter was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Over his four years in St. Louis he averaged 32 saves and led the league in saves in 1981, 1982, and 1984. In 1984 he accumulated 45 saves, which was the most saves ever in a season in the National League. He also helped the Cardinals win the 1982 World Series by getting the final 6 outs versus the Milwaukee Brewers.

Sutter signed a 6-year contract with the Atlanta Braves when he was a free agent after the 1984 season. He was able to record 23 saves in 1985, but he missed most of the 1986 and all of the 1987 season with a rotator cuff that was partially torn. He pitched a limited number of games in 1988, and finally retired in 1989 because his partially torn rotator cuff was now fully torn. Sutter retired after 12 seasons in the major leagues.

When Sutter retired, he was in third place on the all-time career save list in the major leagues. Sutter also won one Cy Young Award and was elected to six All-Star Games, where he was the winning pitcher in two games and recorded the save in two other All-Star Games. For his career, he pitched 1040 innings, had a Win-Loss record of 68-71, an ERA of 2.84, 300 saves, and 861 strikeouts. All of this can be attributed to his extraordinary split-finger fastball, which has been described by his colleagues with such words as “unhittable” and “incredible.” It was the split-finger fastball that paved his way, but his career was complete on July 30, 2006, when he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Following his Hall of Fame induction, Sutter’s jersey number 42 was retired in by the St. Louis Cardinals, when they held a ceremony for him at a home game on September 17, 2006.