bruce sutter is in my hall of famer collection

bruce sutter's plaque in cooperstown shows him with a beard and a st. louis cardinals' cap.  makes sense - he helped the cardinals win the world series in 1982, and he set a then-record with 45 saves for them in 1984. and, he was hirsute while doing so.

my awareness of sutter began in 1978 when he was a cub, thanks to a bunch of pack ripping in my first year of collecting.  so it also makes sense (to me, anyway), that sutter's card in my hall of famer collection is this offering from 2003 topps all-time fan favorites:

here's the back:

it helps that i pulled the card from a pack, but still, my goal with this collection is to include cards that represent the particular player well, according to my personal preferences.  truthfully, any card of sutter would have worked as he pitched for pretty much the entirety of the baseball fandom of my youth. he had a couple of seasons under his belt before i started following the game in 1978, and he missed the 1987 season, but otherwise he was always there at the back end of a dodgers' opponent's bullpen.

it's worth noting that i pitched a bit in little league, babe ruth, and high school, and that i once tried to throw sutter's signature pitch - the split finger.  it was in high school, and my hands and fingers were too small and the ball  kind of stuck between them and then flipped up so that it turned in to more of an eephus pitch. an eephus pitch that landed about 30 feet in front of home plate.

sutter is the first of the hall of famers in the 1978 topps set to be featured here (pete rose doesn't count). 

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425:

bob feller - 2001 topps archives

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relics

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32:

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame