The Cardinals announced that Hall of Fame pitcher and World Series champion Bruce Sutter has passed away. He was 69 years old.
Sutter was a dominant relief pitcher and a member of the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals World Series Championship team. He played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1976 and 1988.
He was one of the sport’s dominant relief pitchers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He is known for his effective use of the split-finger fastball.
Sutter was six-time All Star and 1982 World Series champion. Sutter recorded a 2.83 career earned runs average and 300 saves, the most in MLB history at the time of his retirement. Sutter won the National League’s Cy Young Award in 1979 as its top pitcher, and won the NL Rolaids Relief Man Award four times. He became the only pitcher to lead the NL in saves five times (1979–1982, 1984).
Sutter was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006, his 13th year of eligibility. He was also honored by the Cardinals with the retirement of his uniform number 42 in 2006 and induction into the Cardinals Hall of Fame in 2014. Sutter has served as a minor league consultant for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Photo courtsey of St. Louis Cardinals/Twitter
