RIP Bruce Sutter

I think this is one both Cardinal and Cub fans can agree on....Bruce was one helluva pitcher.

Bruce Sutter, Hall of Fame pitcher and World Series champion, dead at 69 | Fox News

guy was virtually unhittable. amazing pitch. looked like he was throwing a whiffle ball. RIP.

What a pitcher. Went more than one inning so often. Still mad at Ryno.
My favorite story was when he signed with the Braves as a free agent Dec 1984. 6 years at $10 mil. A ridiculous amount in those days. Gussie Busch saw Ted Turner at the next owners meeting. It was probably in January 1985. Gussie was laughing and asked Ted how he could afford to pay so much to an aging pitcher. (Bruce only pitched for Atlanta 3 years and was a shell of his former self.) Ted didn't bat an eye. With a straight face, he looked at Busch and told him the price of the Budweiser signs in Fulton County stadium just doubled. Gussie nearly had a stroke then stormed away.

Boy do I feel old as many of the athletes, actors, and musicians I grew up admiring are passing away. I was lucky enough to see Sutter strike out the side in the bottom of the ninth on nine pitches against the Mets at Wrigley in 1979. We had great seats about ten rows behind the Mets dugout and I remember Lee Mazzilli walking back to sit down after striking out smiling, laughing, and shaking his head at the split-finger.

The elite relief pitcher. The elite quarterback. The elite goaltender. The elite point guard.

What do all these have in common? These are the specialists... the sports surgeons that have the greatest control over the ultimate outcome of the whole contest.

Lots of other guys all over the area of play. All working hard and spilling their energies to the fullest to affect the outcome to a positive result.

And yet... it’s those very few elite specialists who can make-or-break the efforts of everyone else with just one good or bad pitch... one good or bad pass... letting in the soft goal or making the big save... or throwing the ball away in the last few seconds or getting that game-winning basket.

Everyone who makes the top league in their sport is a great talent. The cream of the crop. The best in the Nation and World at what they do.

And of that select group... there is a tiny group that towers over all the rest. The elite specialists. The master sports surgeons. The ones that will ultimately decide who wins and who loses. And which fans will get to go home happy and joyous and which ones will leave angry and dejected.

Yes, it’s still called ‘Playing the Game’. But to be the best... there is anything but just ‘play’ involved. It's work, and lots of it.

Hail to all the Masters of their craft... and the successes that they make possible for everyone else both on and off the area of play.