John Anton Stuper (born May 9, 1957) is an American former

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

. He attended Point Park University before playing professionally from 1982 to 1985 for the St. Louis Cardinals and the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

. He then served as the head coach of the

Yale Bulldogs The Yale Bulldogs are the college sports teams that represent Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The school sponsors 35 varsity sports. The school has won two National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA national championships ...

(1993–2022).

Playing career

Pittsburgh

Stuper was originally drafted by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

on June 6, 1978. He was traded on January 25, 1979, to the St. Louis Cardinals for Tommy Sandt before making it to the majors.

St. Louis Cardinals

He was 25 years old when he broke into

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

on June 1, 1982, for the St. Louis Cardinals. In his debut he pitched 8 innings against the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

but ended with a no-decision as Jack Clark singled in Darrell Evans in the top of the 11th and the Giants beat the Cardinals 4–3 in St. Louis. On October 19, 1982, Stuper pitched a complete game as the Cardinals defeated the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

, 13–1, in the sixth game of the 1982 World Series to tie the series at three games each. Stuper retired thirteen batters in a row, tying a rookie record set by Dickey Kerr for the White Sox in 1919. The Cardinals won the seventh game the following day by a score of 6–3.

Cincinnati Reds

On September 9, 1984, he was traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the

for Paul Householder.

Montreal Expos

On December 19, 1985, he was traded with Dann Bilardello, Andy McGaffigan, and Jay Tibbs to the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...

for Bill Gullickson and Sal Butera, but never played a game for the Expos.

Career statistics

Stuper was listed by ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' as among the ten best performances by a rookie pitcher in the history of post-season play for his Game 6 complete game. ''162-game averages'' In 1983 Stuper finished 9th in the National League with 8 wild pitches. His lifetime

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

was .112 (15/134).

Coaching career

Butler County Community College

A month after being released by the Expos in 1986, Stuper was hired as the head baseball coach at Butler County Community College. He said he intended to coach at BCCC while working on his master's degree at Slippery Rock University. Stuper implemented lessons from his former Cardinals manager, Whitey Herzog, and oversaw aggressive Butler teams that set school records in runs and stolen bases. He led the school to a record of 92–68.

St. Louis Cardinals

Stuper served as a pitching coach in the Cardinals farm system in 1991 and 1992. He spent the first year in the

Florida State League The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

and the second year in the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its h ...

Yale

Stuper served as the 13th head coach for the Yale Bulldogs baseball team. Stuper led the Elis to three Red Rolfe Division titles and two league championships. His 2017 squad was his best, winning a school-record 34 games, earning an NCAA Regional appearance, and setting numerous school records, including 160 stolen bases in 44 games. He earned 1993 New England Division I Coach of the Year and Northeast Region Division I Coach of the Year honors. He finished his Yale career with an Ivy League conference record of 237–261, and he is the winningest coach in school history with an overall record of 535–610.Player Bio: John Stuper :: Baseball
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Head coaching records

The following is a table of Stuper's yearly records as an

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

head baseball coach.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stuper, John 1957 births Living people Major League Baseball pitchers Cincinnati Reds players Butler Grizzlies baseball players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States St. Louis Cardinals players Yale Bulldogs baseball coaches Point Park Pioneers baseball players Baseball players from Butler, Pennsylvania Arkansas Travelers players Charleston Pirates players Louisville Redbirds players Springfield Redbirds players St. Petersburg Cardinals players Vancouver Canadians players American expatriate baseball players in Canada Junior college baseball coaches in the United States Junior college baseball players in the United States Slippery Rock University alumni Minor league baseball coaches