The six-time All-Star is the first pitcher who made the Hall without ever starting a game.
Bruce Sutter, a Hall of Fame reliever and 1979 Cy Young winner, has died at the age of 69. When Bruce Sutter began experimenting with the split-fingered fastball, he wasn’t looking for a path to Cooperstown. He was just hoping to save his career.
A six-time All-Star, Sutter led the National League in saves for five years and won the 1979 Cy Young Award. He posted 300 saves in a 12-year career with the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves. Sutter was the fourth reliever to be elected to the Hall, after Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers and Dennis Eckersley. Mariano Rivera, Goose Gossage, Lee Smith and Trevor Hoffman have since joined the list.
After a brief college stint at Old Dominion, he returned home and was pitching for the semi-pro Hippey’s Raiders in the Lebanon Valley League when a Cubs scout spotted him. The pitch — the ball held between the index and middle fingers and suddenly dips as it approaches the plate — had been around for a bit, most prominently championed by former big leaguer Roger Craig, but wasn’t being successfully thrown.
“Being a St Louis Cardinal was an honor he cherished deeply,” the Sutter family’s statement said. “To the Cardinals, his teammates and most importantly to the greatest fans in all of sports, we thank you for all of the love and support over the years.”Sutter finished with three seasons in Atlanta. His last save, No. 300, came with the Braves in 1988.
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