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 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.
Young pitchers don't throw enough in the minor leagues, and when they get to the majors, they don't have the stamina; their arms haven't been built up.
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.
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.
Goose Gossage is a friend of mine, and he's definitely a Hall of Fame pitcher in my mind.
It was a call that you always hope for, but you never really expect it to happen. I didn't think it would affect me or hit me as hard as it did.
The stadium wasn't the best, and the lights weren't the best. Wallis hit the ball by the lights. And nobody ever saw the ball come down. So they gave him a home run. What else are you going to do? It was one of the strangest things I ever saw.
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.
Most everyone, the middle finger is dominant. With me, it was this one. That made it easy to throw. I got it to break real quick.
I faced Rice in All-Star Games and he was a tremendous player. And Andre Dawson could hit, run, throw.
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.
Were my stats good enough? I don't know. You just keep kind of hoping.
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?
I was short with my fastball and breaking ball.