While deciding to start a super-collection for Craig Kimbrel, I began to think about other relief pitchers that I collect to get an idea of how many cards I can expect to obtain of Kimbrel. The first relief pitcher that came to mind was Bruce Sutter, and not just because the 1979 NL Cy Young Award winner is celebrating his 65th birthday today.
Sutter began his career playing for the Chicago Cubs where he played the best years of his 12-year career as he was an All-Star 4 years in a row from 1977-1980. Sutter then left to play for the Cardinals for 4 years in which he had some very good seasons before playing 3 mediocre seasons for the Atlanta Braves.
I have 36 cards of Bruce Sutter from all 3 teams he played for. Also, each one of those teams has at least one card on the list. Now, here are my 5 favorite cards of Bruce Sutter.
#5 1984 Fleer
Showing cards of Bruce Sutter on the Cardinals can seem a bit weird to me because I mostly associate the 6-time All-Star with the Cubs, the team that he had his best years with and the team he was on for the longest amount of time. However, there are a few really nice cards that show him in a Cardinals jersey, and the 1984 Fleer card is the perfect example of that. Powdered blue jerseys are something that I always enjoy on cards, no matter who the player is. The 1984 Fleer set did a good job at capturing everything I like about Bruce Sutter, the 80's, and Fleer itself without Sutter being on the Cubs in this card, so I have to give them credit for that and put the card at #5.
#4 1986 Fleer
2 years after the 1984 season, Bruce Sutter wasn't half the player he used to be and was playing in the 2nd of 3 bad seasons with the Braves. Still, as bad as he was for Atlanta I absolutely love this card. There are so many different examples of blue on the card that it all comes together and looks fantastic. The blue jersey, blue hat, blue border, blue logo, and the blue banner. And yes it may be a bit excessive, but I commend Fleer for doing this and creating such a unique card, and my personal favorite card of him on the Braves.
#3 1981 Fleer
Fleer strikes again as it has produced cards 5-3 on the list, and from all different teams that Sutter has played for. This time, it's the Cubs and Fleer's iconic 1981 design that earned the #3 spot. My favorite part of 1981 Fleer is the baseball in the bottom left. It really gives the cards a nice retro feel and takes everyone who looks at them back to 1981. And with the classic Cubs uniform also on the card, it really is one of the best cards of Sutter. Plus, he's holding a bat in this card, a bat! There can't be any other card of Bruce Sutter with a bit in his hand.
Nevermind.
#2 2016 Topps Archives
This part of the 2016 Topps Archives set is replicating the 1979 Topps set when Bruce Sutter played for the Cubs. Therefore, it would make sense to put him on the Cubs in this set. However, Topps didn't do that and I couldn't complain when I saw Sutter's Archives card that shows him in a Cardinals coat with the awesome logo on the right. The card doesn't have much else going on besides the photo of Sutter which is good because it shows that the focus of the card should be the image. Not to mention how well Topps replicated their 1979 set to make such a fabulous card.
#1 2006 Fleer Greats of the Game- Cubs Greats
Even though he didn't play as long for the Cubs as some players, there's no denying that Bruce Sutter is one of the greatest Cubs of all-time. Every detail of the card works in harmony, from the ivy to the logo as well as the Wrigley sign and the choice of a black and white image of the star pitcher. Everything on the card is there for a reason, yet with so much going on the card isn't even crowded. Upper Deck revised the Fleer brand in 2006 after Fleer stopped production, and this card has to be one of the best that Upper Deck has created not just in a Fleer set, but all-time.
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