FAT DADDY'S SPORTS
  • HOME
    • BIO
    • Reach Me
  • CARD SHOWS
    • Gonzaga >
      • Photos
    • MY SHOW! >
      • Smith & Gordon Show Photos 2014
      • 2015 Photos
      • 2016 Photos
  • STORE
    • eBay
  • PHOTOS
    • Card Show Photos >
      • 2012 Card Show Photos
      • 2013 Card Show Photos
    • Recent Pick-Ups >
      • Page 2
  • BLOG
  • LINKS
    • YouTube
  • STUFF
    • ARTICLES
    • BOOK REVIEWS
  • FAQ
  • BUYING

Farewell Bruce Sutter

10/14/2022

1 Comment

 
Picture
Growing up in suburban Chicago in the 1970's, I was a dedicated follower of all sports teams related to the Windy City -- Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Black Hawks, Sting, DePaul and Northwestern. This was my world. Nothing else really mattered.

These were pre-Internet days so the main source of info and news about my teams was the newspaper. We had the Chicago Tribune delivered to the house seven days a week. The Sun-Times came on Sundays. Often my dad would pick up the Daily News and bring it home after work.

It was a battle at my house between my dad and my two brothers for the sports section. If I did not get it right away, it was in sorry shape with milk, coffee, and various food stains by the time I got it. Regardless, I put a good hour or two each day into that Tribune sports section reading all of the articles and columns then studying box scores and stats.

I took great joy in the summer of 1976, at age 9, checking the stats daily to see if Bill Madlock was still leading the N.L. in batting average, and to see if Rick Monday was still in the top 10 for homers, and to see if Bruce Sutter could crack the top ten for saves.

I loved to watch Sutter pitch and to listen to commentary from Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau and Vince Lloyd on TV and radio. This was the first time I had ever witnessed the split-finger fast ball. Sutter's splitter was amazing. It would just die and frustrate hitters.

The summer of 1977 was amazing for 10-year-old me. The Sox were in the pennant race while the Cubs were hot in the first half and Sutter mania took over.  The church by my house had the following on its marquee all summer: "Only God Saves More Than Sutter." I just knew if the Cubs were ahead in the late innings that Sutter would come in and make the opposing team's hitters look silly while flailing way at the splitter.

By the end of the decade, just about all of my heroes on all of the Chicago sports teams were gone. They either left in free agency or the teams traded them away. Hence, I lost a lot of interest in Chicago sports during the 1980's. To this day, I am in complete bewilderment when the Chicago teams don't sign their best players or trade them away. As a result, I can't be all in like I was as a kid because I know I will be let down when the teams don't keep my guys.

Bruce Sutter was one of my guys. I was devasted in 1980 when the Cubs traded Sutter to the Cardinals for Leon Durham. Sutter was the last of my heroes from 1976 to go, the Cubs had already dumped Madlock and Monday a few years earlier.

The Cubs did not need Leon Durham. They needed starting pitching. While they had a young Lee Smith, he was unproven. There was nobody in the league as deadly as Sutter. He was the best reliever in baseball. Why trade him? We all know how well Leon Durham worked out. 

In 1981, I did not want to watch Lee Smith. I wanted to watch Sutter. It was painful to see him with the hated Cardinals. Then the players went on strike in June of 1981. What a mess! Probably my worst year as a baseball fan because I had spent all of my free time up to that point in my life either playing baseball or watching baseball or listening to it on the radio. Even though both the Cubs and the White Sox stunk in 1981, I still wanted to watch them. I did not know what to do with myself that summer. 

As the 1980's progressed, I tried not to watch Sutter with the Cardinals then the Braves. It still hurt to see him playing elsewhere. Though, I was thrilled to see him win a World Series with the Cardinals in 1982 because I knew that would never happen with the Cubs. I was also thrilled when he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. To this day, I have not seen a pitcher throw a better splitter than Sutter. It was a thing of beauty, especially that summer of 1977 when Sutter-mania spread throughout the Chicago area. He was the best and he was our guy.

Sutter was still my guy when he died yesterday. I was crushed upon learning the news. In my mind, skinny, little 10-year-old me is throwing down his glove and kicking the infield dirt (picture Tanner from the Bad News Bears -- that was me). RIP Mr. Sutter. Thanks for all those thrilling moments. I can't say how much I enjoyed those five years you were in Chicago. The image of the bottom dropping out of that splitter in Wrigley Field is forever etched in my mind. Say hello to Jack Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau and Vince Lloyd for me. 


1 Comment
Paul
10/15/2022 07:25:46 am

Tony,

What's interesting about Sutter is that he paid for his own elbow surgery in 1973, the year after he was drafted. He hired his own surgeon and paid for the surgery with his signing bonus from the year before. It was Fred Martin a long time minor league instructor who taught Sutter the split finger after his surgery. Roger Craig long time Manager and Coach was the originator of the split finger.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Tony Gordon

    Vintage Sports Cards Addict

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.