John Anton Stuper (born May 9, 1957, in Butler, Pennsylvania) is a college baseball head coach and former pitcher. He attended Point Park University. He was 25 years old when he broke into Major League Baseball on June 1, 1982, for the St. Louis Cardinals. In his debut he pitched 8 innings against the San Francisco Giants 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, 13-1, in the sixth game of the 1982 World Series to tie the series at three games each. The Cardinals won the seventh game the following day by a score of 6-3.
Playing career
Stuper was originally drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates 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. On September 9, 1984 he was traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Cincinnati Reds for Paul Householder. On December 19, 1985 he was traded with Dann Bilardello, Andy McGaffigan, and Jay Tibbs to the Montreal Expos for Bill Gullickson and Sal Butera, but never played a game for the Expos.
Stuper was listed by Sports Illustrated as among the 10 best performances by a rookie pitcher in the history of post-season play[1] for his Game 6 complete game.
MLB debut
June 1, 1982, for the St. Louis Cardinals
Last MLB appearance
October 4, 1985, for the Cincinnati Reds
MLB statistics
Win–loss record 32–28
Earned run average 3.96
Strikeouts 191