Bruce Sutter
Bruce Sutter
Howard Bruce Sutteris a former Major League Baseball right-handed relief pitcher. He was arguably the first pitcher to make effective use of the split-finger fastball. One of the sport's dominant relievers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, he became the only pitcher to lead the National League in saves five times. In 1979, Sutter won the NL's Cy Young Award as the league's top pitcher...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth8 January 1953
CityLancaster, PA
CountryUnited States of America
I enjoy being out with the fans, I enjoy talking baseball, but to get up and tell my life story... I'm not comfortable doing that.
I have an older son, Josh, and growing up, he just didn't care that much for baseball. And that was fine. But Chaddie, he always wanted to go to the ballpark. He just kind of took to it right away.
It's that way all the way down the line. I've got a boy coaching college ball and another son coaching high school. All the way down to summer leagues, all the way down to kids who are 14 years old. All those teams have a closer.
I was short with my fastball and breaking ball.
I feel like a pioneer with the split-fingered fastball. I was the first one to really throw it pretty much 100 percent of the time. It was a pitch that I had to have. If I didn't have it, I wouldn't have been in the big leagues.
It's not good or bad, but closers have changed things. I don't think you are going to win a World Series without one. Where would the Yankees be without Mariano Rivera?
Were my stats good enough? I don't know. You just keep kind of hoping.
My first year in the big leagues, I made $17,000. It was easy to go out and get another $17,000 relief pitcher. I never worried about innings or pitches. I just pitched.
I'm basically a country person.
Goose Gossage is a friend of mine, and he's definitely a Hall of Fame pitcher in my mind.
Pitchers are going to break. You can limit their pitches and limit their innings, and they're still going to blow out. Pitching is hard on the arm.
The three most important pitches I threw in my life were all fastballs.
I could throw pretty hard. I might strike out 16 guys, but I might walk 10. I mean, I was wild.
I'm certainly thankful for what the Cubs did for me. I respect their organization. It's the same way with the Atlanta Braves, an awfully fine organization. I respect everybody who's down there, and that's still where I live today. But the Cardinals represent the best years of my career.