Herzog's Hammer heads to Hall
Congratulations to Howard Bruce Sutter on his forthcoming induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, announced today! It is well deserved, my good man."Engine #42," as broadcaster Mike Shannon called him, has ridden his '300 saves fire truck' into Cooperstown; and like fellow 1982 World Champion Ozzie Smith before him (back in 2002,) will have the spotlight all to himself when he's inducted this summer. It's fitting, also, because Bruuuuuuce! stood by himself on the Busch Stadium mound for the final six outs of '82's World Series Game 7, finally blowing away Gorman Thomas and the Brewers.
Bruce was one of my earliest Cardinals favorites-- one of the White Rat's key club contributors and the bearded warrior of the team bullpen when I was but seven years of age, and my only dream in life was to be a bearded professional baseball player. I saw my first game in St. Louis in '83, and to this day, the lower level seats we occupied down the rightfield line were the best I've ever experienced. They awarded a primo view of Mr. Sutter when he made his way out to the bullpen in the eighth inning. (In those days, Busch's bullpens were located in foul territory.)
The adolescent memories have to qualify now as "fuzzy," but I recall that Bruce was arriving late to the ballpark that night due to the death of his father, and the team was trailing in the ballgame, so it was unlikely that the Cards' closer would ever appear on the field. With jacket in hand, he sauntered down-- not the red carpet, but-- the green carpet of Busch Stadium's Astroturf, en route to the home team pen, just to get a little work in. In retrospect now, it's clear that he made the journey that humid night 23 years ago, not to stretch his arm peeling off a handful of nasty splitters, but to an end that I would one day be able to recollect for you less fortunate souls, my brush with greatness. His will be done.
Let us pray that the Omniscient will shine her light upon the Cooperstown money-changers this winter and the coming spring, and grant them the wisdom to allow her child, Bruce, to enter her most precious Hall of Fame, not as a Chicago Cub, his first team, but as one of thy holy church's St. Louis Cardinals, the team for which Bruce forever earned the right to call himself a Champion. And may she, one day, also call his fair-haired skipper home to her hallowed shrine.
posted by CM @ 9:16 PM
2 Comments:
Congrats to Bruce. I suppose he had to get in before they really opened up the doors to more closers. I'm hoping Lee Smith gets in sometime in the next couple years.
I had always thought of Sutter as a Cardinal because the only memories I have of him are as a Cardinal and the only time I ever hear him talked about is as the pitcher for "The Sandberg Game" - which I suppose takes on more meaning now that he hit those home runs off of a future HOFer. But by looking at the stats, I'm not sure if he will go in as a Cardinal or a Cub. He had more innings, saves, a better ERA and a Cy Young award when he was with the Cubs.
His best year though was in 1984 when he compiled 45 saves while only giving up 21 earned runs in 122 2/3 innings for a 1.54 ERA (Sandberg was responsible for 3 of those ER in just one game).
It will be a tough decision for the Hall to make (since the player can no longer choose which team cap he wants to wear). I'm guessing he goes as a Cardinal, but I wouldn't be upset to have another Cub in the hallowed Hall.
Sounds like it's the Cardinals, by decision of the Hall. The verdict came much sooner than I thought.
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