[Pinetarpress]

The St. Louis Cardinals traded lefty reliever Mike Wallace to the Rangers during the 1976 off season for John Sutton. Sutton had been in the Rangers organization for 3 seasons going 10-5 with a 5.36 E.R.A and 12 saves at AAA Sacramento in 1976. He made the Cardinals out of spring training in 1977 and made his big league debut on April 7th at Pittsburgh when he entered the game to start out the bottom of the 9th with his Cardinals ahead 12-4. He did not pitch well in his big league debut allowing 2 ER in his 1 inning of work. He stayed with the big league club thru April 24th allowing just 2 ER in 6.2 IP. He came back to the Cardinals in September and pitched in 8 more games finishing the season with a 2-1 record and a 2.59 E.R.A.

The RHP would be drafted in the Rule 5 draft in December by the Twins. He pitched in 17 games for Twins in 1978.