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Donald Howard Sutton
Los Angeles Dodgers
Pitcher
Born: April 2, 1945, Clio, AL
Signed: Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent, September 11, 1964
Major League Teams: Los Angeles Dodgers 1966-1980; Houston Astros 1981-1982; Milwaukee Brewers 1982-1984; Oakland Athletics 1985; California Angels 1985-1987; Los Angeles Dodgers 1988
World Series Appearances: Los Angeles Dodgers 1974, 1977-1978, 1982
Died: January 18, 2021, Rancho Mirage, CA (age 75)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1998
Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton starred for the Dodgers throughout the 1970s, appearing in four World Series with the club between 1974 and 1982. Sutton began his career in the same pitching rotation as Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale (#400) in 1966, and ended his career in 1988 in a Dodgers' rotation including Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela. He was a workhorse, rarely missing a start, and compiling 15 straight seasons with 200 or more innings pitched between 1966 and 1980, and then crossing the 200 innings pitched plateau for five more seasons between 1982 and 1986. He finished in the top five for Cy Young Award voting each season between 1972 and 1976, winning at least 18 games in four of those seasons. A four-time All-Star, he was the starting pitcher and MVP of the 1977 All-Star Game, pitching three scoreless innings and striking out four. Sutton won an ERA title in 1980 with a 2.20 mark.
Died: January 18, 2021, Rancho Mirage, CA (age 75)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1998
Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton starred for the Dodgers throughout the 1970s, appearing in four World Series with the club between 1974 and 1982. Sutton began his career in the same pitching rotation as Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale (#400) in 1966, and ended his career in 1988 in a Dodgers' rotation including Orel Hershiser and Fernando Valenzuela. He was a workhorse, rarely missing a start, and compiling 15 straight seasons with 200 or more innings pitched between 1966 and 1980, and then crossing the 200 innings pitched plateau for five more seasons between 1982 and 1986. He finished in the top five for Cy Young Award voting each season between 1972 and 1976, winning at least 18 games in four of those seasons. A four-time All-Star, he was the starting pitcher and MVP of the 1977 All-Star Game, pitching three scoreless innings and striking out four. Sutton won an ERA title in 1980 with a 2.20 mark.
Sutton pitched in 23 seasons and earned a career mark of 324-256 with a 3.26 ERA and 3,574 career strikeouts. He's currently 14th on the all-time wins leaderboard and 7th all-time in strikeouts. Sutton's 58 career shutouts are currently 10th all-time. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998, with the Dodgers retiring his #20 that same year. Sutton was a longtime television announcer, mostly with the Atlanta Braves, between 1989 and 2018.
March 12, 2023 from The Philly Show (Uncle Dick's Cards)
In mid-March, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sports Collectors Show, held within the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, Pennsylvania. My main focus for this show was accumulating as many 1969 Topps commons as possible, which I did by adding a grand total of 193 cards to our set. That's almost 30% of the entire set added in one enjoyable afternoon. I wrote a full summary of the show in a post over at The Phillies Room, found here.
This is the 141st of the 193 commons and semi-stars purchased, pulled and stacked from the first two neon green binders housing 1969 Topps cards at the multi-table spread of Uncle Dick's Cards from Babylon, New York. My method was simple - I pulled up a chair, found a card I needed, picked the best of the group from the binder page and set it aside. After each 100 cards, I'd ask the dealer to tell me how much damage I had done so far. With a budget in mind, I kept going twice, continuing after card #100 and card #200, and stopping at card #298.
The final amount due was 17% off the sticker price for the pile of 193 cards, with this card costing me around $3.50. I was surprised to see this Sutton card in the binder of commons and minor stars, and even more surprised the card cost less than $4. It was one of the three "priciest" cards acquired out of the lot of 193, along with the 1st Series Checklist (#57) and the World Series Game 6 card (#167), both of which also had a price tag of $4 before the dealer discount. Seems as if this card should have been more expensive?
The Card / Dodgers Team Set / Accuracy Index +5
Sutton's photo was likely taken at the same time as the photo used for his 1967 Topps card, and this is one of an amazing 23 years of appearances by Sutton in Topps flagship sets. On the back, Topps summarizes Sutton's professional career to date, including his successful minor league career and his 1966 National League Rookie Pitcher of the Year win, which may have been an honor bestowed by Topps? There's no such award listed in his SABR biography, and he didn't place in the actual Rookie of the Year voting.
Topps created a variation of Sutton's 1969 Topps card for its 2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites set.
Accuracy Index: Sutton's card scores a solid +5.
1969 Season
Claude Osteen (#528) and Bill Singer (#575) were both 20-game winners for the Dodgers in 1969, with Sutton going 17-18 with a 3.47 ERA. The youngest of the three, Sutton made 41 starts and struck out 217 over 293 1/3 innings pitched. His starts and innings pitched totals were both career highs. He threw 11 complete games, including four shutouts. He also tossed his first of five career one-hitters on May 1st, giving up an eighth-inning double to the Giants' Jim Davenport (#102).
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First Mainstream Card: 1966 Topps #288
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (23): 1966-1988
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2023 Topps Heritage 1974 Topps Stamps High Number #74S-61
Total Non-Parallel Baseball Cards: 745 in the Beckett online database as of 1/11/24.
Sources:
Baseball Reference / SABR / Wikipedia
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