Bruce Sutter

Trivia

• Sutter was a member of three different teams during his career from 1976 to 1988.
• After being selected by the Washington Senators in the 21st round of the June 1970 draft, Sutter instead attended Old Dominion University, and later signed with the Cubs as a free agent in September 1971.
• He spent slightly over four seasons in the Cubs' farm system, and played on the 1975 Texas League (AA) champion Midland Cubs.
• He joined the Chicago Cubs in May 1976, and after five seasons was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in December 1980, and then joined the Atlanta Braves in December 1984 as a free agent.
• In 1979, Sutter saved 37 games for the Cubs, tying the NL record held by Clay Carroll (1972) and Rollie Fingers (1978).
• In addition to the Cy Young Award, Sutter also won both the Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award and The Sporting News Fireman of the Year Award in 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1984.
• He was a member of the Cardinals team which won the 1982 World Series and is credited with two saves in that Series, including the Series-clinching save in Game 7 which ended with a strikeout of Gorman Thomas and a leaping hug by catcher World Series MVP Darrell Porter; Sutter also earned the save in the pennant-clinching victory in the NLCS.
• In 1984, he tied Dan Quisenberry's major league record, set the previous year, for most saves in a season (45), a record broken by Dave Righetti (46) in 1986; Sutter's NL record was broken by Lee Smith (47) in 1991.
• Sutter was named to the NL's All-Star team six times (1977-1981, 1984), appearing in the games of 1978 through 1981.
• He played a major role in all four contests, earning the win in 1978 and 1979, and saves in 1980 and 1981.

Quotes

• “I ended up with three shoulder surgeries.”
• “You never think that giving up two home runs to the same guy helped you get in the Hall of Fame. But ... that's what might have happened.”
• “Were my stats good enough? I don't know. You just keep kind of hoping.”
• “As long as you're on the ballot, you have a chance. Just being on the ballot is such a great honor.”
• “I faced Rice in All-Star Games and he was a tremendous player. And Andre Dawson could hit, run, throw.”
• “That may have been true in the '50s. But if I'm playing against the Yankees and they say, 'You can take one guy off their team so he can't play against you,' well, then, it's going to be Mariano Rivera who won't play.”
• “It was the call you always hope for, but you never really expect it to happen. I can't tell you what in means to me, in words.”
• “It just tickles me still when you see Roger Clemens, as great as he is, throw a split-finger and the hitter just swings and misses. They don't see that ball that well. Jack Morris threw an awful good one and Mike Scott -- there's a lot of great pitchers over the years that I think that pitch definitely helped their career.”
• “I think sometimes the voters try to compare us with the starting pitchers. We can't compete with their statistics, their innings or their strikeouts. I think if you compare us against each other, I think you'll see we're all pretty equal.”
• “I was planning a hunting trip next year if I didn't get in this year. I didn't need to be around the phone, I can tell you that.”