Hall of Fame reliever, Cy Young Award winner Bruce Sutter dies at 69

[OldBill]

Bruce Sutter, seen here celebrating his win at the 1982 World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals, died on Thursday. He was 69. (AP/File)

Sutter, who is widely considered to be one of the first pitchers to throw a split-finger fastball, spent 12 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1976-1988.
Sutter made his debut with the Chicago Cubs and won the NL Cy Young award in 1979 after making 37 saves with 110 strikeouts on the year. He spent five seasons in Chicago before leaving for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1981.
He helped close out their World Series win in 1982 and ended Game 7 of that series with a strikeout to beat the Milwaukee Brewers. Sutter then finished his career with the Atlanta Braves, where he picked up his 300th career save.
The six-time All-Star was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.

The Cubs mourn the passing of Hall of Fame pitcher Bruce Sutter. The 1979 NL Cy Young Award winner and a member of the Cubs Hall of Fame, Sutter pitched with Chicago from 1976-80, collecting 133 saves, second-most in franchise history.



R I P Bruce

[slayer14]

RIP

[MT Casings]

He had the split finger fast ball that dropped off the table when it hit the plate.
RIP Bruce. Cubs nation will miss you.

[stevenash]

Too soon, age 69.
I was stunned to see this, I watched him a lot growing up.
As dominant as the other great closers of his era (Gossage, Fingers, Eck) mid '70's before the next wave of great closers came along in the 80's.

How a pitcher that good could go undrafted is beyond me.
That splitter/cutter once mastered in next to impossible to hit.
Just ask anybody who faced Mo just how impossible to hit.

Sad to hear one of out all time great brothers has left us.
RIP

[Mr KLC]

Saw him with the Cubbies several times when they came to the Astrodome. Those were some teams that were a complete waste of his talent. A bit of trivia. The Cardinals had both Bruce Sutter and Rollie Fingers on their roster for a few days during the 1980 offseason. After getting Fingers from the Padres, they flipped him to the Brewers a few days later. Just think how that bullpen would have been if the Cardinals kept him.

[Mr KLC]

Also, Fingers and Sutter went up against each other in the 1982 World Series a couple of seasons later after the trade.