Release
In what year did Looper debut?
Looper (film)
Braden Looper Byron Looper Pierce Gagnon Byron Looper 2006 World Series
Braden_Looper-Major_leagues Byron_Looper-Tax_assessor Pierce_Gagnon-Career Byron_Looper-Early_life,_education,_and_early_career 2006_World_Series-Game_3
Looper was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals as the third pick in the first round of the 1996 Major League Baseball Draft. He made his major league debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 31, 1998, striking out the side in a relief appearance. After the 1998 season, he was traded to the Florida Marlins for shortstop Edgar Rentería. Looper was inconsistent with the Marlins, working his way into the closer role. However, he had a penchant for blowing easy saves. Toward the end of the 2003 season, as the Marlins were in a pennant race that culminated in a World Series win, Looper faltered and was replaced as closer by Ugueth Urbina. Looper appeared in relief in the fourth game of the World Series, which went 11 innings. His performance gained him a win, as the Marlins won the game in the bottom of the 11th. In January 2004, Looper signed with the New York Mets as a free agent and had his best season to date going 2-5 with 29 saves and a 2.70 ERA. However, Looper had many crucial blown saves during the 2005 season, including blown saves on Opening Day, in a game that would have clinched a Met sweep at Yankee Stadium and as part of an eight-run collapse by the Mets pen against the Nationals. With that, many Mets fan called him "Blooper". These performances still fresh in fans' minds, he was greeted with loud boos and "Looper sucks!" chants upon his returns to Shea with the Cardinals, most prominently during the 2006 NLCS. In September 2005, Looper underwent shoulder surgery to repair a blown AC joint. This, in addition to the emergence of Aaron Heilman and acquisition by the Mets of other relief pitchers, kept the Mets from picking up his $5 million option for 2006. On December 15, 2005, he signed a three-year, $13.5M contract with the Cardinals to set up star closer and former Met Jason Isringhausen. He was part of the 2006 World Series winning St. Louis Cardinals team. Primarily an 8th inning setup man, Looper posted a 9-3 record as the team's leading bullpen wins leader. Beginning in the 2007 season Looper became a starting pitcher for the first time in his major league career. In his first season as a starter, Looper reached career highs in wins (12), innings pitched (175), and strikeouts (84) in 30 starts (31 total appearances). In 2008, Looper threw a split-finger fastball 18.4% of the time, more than any other starter in the majors. [http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=y&type=4&season=2008&month=0] On October 30, , Looper filed for free agency. On February 12, , Looper signed a one-year deal with an option for 2010 with the Milwaukee Brewers. After the 2009 season the Brewers did not pick up the option on Looper for 2010, making him a free agent. After not pitching in the 2010 season, Looper was a non-roster invitee of the Chicago Cubs to spring training as a candidate to be either a starter or reliever on the team. Looper had stated that the Cubs were the only team he would attempt a comeback with. However, on March 25, Looper was informed he would not make the opening day roster, and he retired. 
In 1992, Looper returned to Tennessee and became a Republican. He lost a race for the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1994, when he ran against incumbent legislator Jere Hargrove. In 1996, he legally changed his middle name from Anthony to "(Low Tax)" and ran successfully for the post of Putnam County tax assessor, defeating a 14-year incumbent after a campaign in which he did not make public appearances or participate in debates, instead relying heavily on negative campaign ads. As tax assessor, Looper used his office's equipment to send numerous press releases to Tennessee news media, making positive claims about himself and alleging various shortcomings on the part of other local officials. At the same time he seldom showed up for work and there were many reports of irregularities in property tax assessments. In March 1998, following an investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Looper was indicted on 14 counts of official misconduct, theft of services and official oppression for theft, misuse of county property and misuse of county employees. He claimed the charges were politically motivated due to Democratic control of Putnam County politics and the Tennessee General Assembly. The "Cookeville Herald-Citizen" newspaper regularly reported the Republican Tax Assessor's bizarre antics and public verbal assaults of Putnam County elected officials. The Tennessee Republican Party soon claimed no connection with Looper, though campaign contributions and lists of paid political consultants proved otherwise. Looper also faced legal problems from a former girlfriend who sued him for $1.2 million, saying that she got pregnant and bore a child after he forced her to engage in sexual activity and that he had used his official position to steal her house. Earlier he had run campaign ads in which he falsely represented the same girlfriend as his wife. On October 30, 1998, after Looper had been arrested and jailed for the murder of Tommy Burks, the Putnam County attorney and ten citizens filed petitions to oust him from the office of tax assessor. In the ouster petitions it was alleged that: (1) Looper had arbitrarily increased the tax assessment on the property of a person who would not contribute to Looper's political campaign fund; (2) Looper had failed to enter assessments on certain parcels of property, thus leaving them unassessed; (3) Looper had removed a parcel from the tax roll with the intent of preventing the property owner from serving as a county public official or running for public office; (4) Looper had failed to deliver property tax rolls to the county trustee as required by law; (5) Looper erroneously classified certain property as falling under the state's Agricultural, Forest, and Open Space Land Act in order to obtain a benefit under that law; and (6) Looper used county employee time, county money, and other county resources for his own personal and political purposes. The ouster suit led, on January 26, 1999, to Looper's being officially removed from the public office of property assessor. After Looper's removal from office and conviction for murder, prosecutors decided not to pursue the criminal indictments filed in March 1998. 
In January 2011, he was cast in the film "Looper" starring Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Emily Blunt. His character of "Cid Harrington", a child who has unusual telekinetic abilities and becomes a warlord in the year 2074, called the "Rainmaker". His performance in the film was appreciated by fans and critics alike. The director of "Looper", Rian Johnson said:Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Pierce: 
Byron Looper was born in Cookeville, Tennessee. He spent most of his childhood in Georgia, where his father, Aaron Looper, was a school superintendent. Looper attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 1983 to 1985, but was given an honorable discharge following what he says was a serious knee injury. After being discharged, he moved to Georgia, where he attended the University of Georgia and worked for the state legislature after graduation. In 1988, Looper ran for the Georgia House of Representatives as a Democrat, losing to Wyc Orr in the Democratic primary. He enrolled as a graduate student in the Stetson School of Business and Economics at Mercer University in Atlanta. He continued his political involvement as an officer in the Georgia Young Democrats organization and as a campaign worker in Al Gore's 1988 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and the 1992 Clinton-Gore presidential campaign. 
Tuesday, October 24, 2006 at Busch Stadium (III) in St. Louis, MissouriAfter the Cardinals were shut out by Detroit pitcher Kenny Rogers for eight innings in Game 2, St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter answered with eight shutout innings of his own in a 5–0 Cardinals victory in Game 3. Carpenter, making his World Series debut (he missed the entire 2004 World Series due to injury) gave up only three hits, struck out six and did not issue a walk, while throwing only 82 pitches. Only one Tiger reached second base. Louis began the scoring in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded two-run double by center fielder Jim Edmonds off of Nate Robertson. Two more runs would score in the bottom of the seventh on an error by Detroit pitcher Joel Zumaya, who overthrew third baseman Brandon Inge on what should have been a routine force out. St. Louis would add another run in the eighth on a wild pitch. Reliever Braden Looper would pitch a perfect ninth to close out the game and give St. Louis a two-games-to-one advantage in the Series. The Cardinals became the first team since the Cincinnati Reds in 1970 to host a World Series game in their first season in a new ballpark. 