Sutter was the first pitcher elected to the Hall without ever starting a single game. He managed to steal a base somehow but no starts. He played five minor league season and only started two games there. What did he do in high school?
There are 18 players not in the Hall of Fame who have more career games without ever starting a game. Here are the first ones on the list.
John Franco 1,111 games and 0 starts.
Kent Tekulve 1,050 games and 0 starts.
Trevor Hoffman 1,035 games and 0 starts.
Sparky Lyle 899 games and 0 starts.
Sutter pitched in 661 regular-season games.
Jesse Orosco leads with 1,252 games pitched, but he started four times.
Only Ryne Sandberg managed to hit 4 homers against Sutter. Two of those were in the well-known "Sandberg" game. I remember watching that at my parent's house. I also remember that my mom made delicious homemade cookies because my brother was coming over for a visit. My visit on the same day - mom gave me the lawn mover.
Sutter doesn't rank high in any career stats now. Baseball-reference.com compares him mostly to guys not going to the Hall. He did revolutionize relief pitching with the split-finger fastball.
I decided to see who did well against Sutter and who failed the most. I was expecting someone like Shawon Dunston to struggle against Sutter since he swung at everything. I didn't think that Dunston would have faced Sutter. He did. Dunston was 3-for-3 and he showed up first on the list when sorted by batting average even though others batted 1.000 against Sutter.
I actually remember watching that game . . . did Sutter develop that pitch on his own?
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