The most durable link in the long chain of Dodger pitching greats has died.
The winningest pitcher in Dodgers history who went on to a long broadcasting career, Don Sutton died at age 75 on Tuesday morning at his home in Rancho Mirage after a long battle with cancer. Sutton’s son, Daron (a former member of the broadcast crews for the Angels and Milwaukee Brewers), announced his father’s passing on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.
“Today we lost a great ballplayer, a great broadcaster and, most importantly a great person,” said Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten in statement released by the team. “Don left an indelible mark on the Dodger franchise during his 16 seasons in Los Angeles and many of his records continue to stand to this day. I was privileged to have worked with Don in both Atlanta and Washington, and will always cherish our time spent together.”
Don Sutton made his major-league debut with the Dodgers in 1966, starting the third game of the season for the defending World Series champions and going 12-12 with a 2.99 ERA as a 21-year-old. By the time he left the Dodgers as a free agent following the 1980 season, Sutton had won more games (233), made more starts (533), pitched more innings (3,816-1/3) and struck out more batters (2,696) than any other pitcher in franchise history.
But Sutton wasn’t done at age 35. The right-hander who was part of the Dodgers’ rotation spanning an era from Sandy Koufax to Fernando Valenzuela, pitched eight more seasons with the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland A’s and the Angels, finally returning to the Dodgers to make 16 more starts at age 43 in 1988.
A four-time All-Star, Sutton never gave up a run in eight innings over those appearances and won the game’s Most Valuable Player award in 1977.
The durable Sutton never missed a start due to injury and pitched 200 innings or more in 20 of his first 21 seasons, a stretch interrupted only by the strike-shortened 1981 season. No other pitcher in baseball history recorded 20 seasons of 200 innings or more or 20 seasons with at least 30 starts.
Sutton finished his 23-year career having made 756 starts. Only Cy Young (815) and Nolan Ryan (773) made more in baseball history. He also ranked seventh all-time in innings pitched (5,282-1/3) and strikeouts (3,574). A four-time All-Star, Sutton had a career record of 324-256 and an ERA of 3.26. He went 28-24 in his two-plus seasons with the Angels (1985-87), recording his 300th career win with them in June 1986. At the time, he was just the 19th player in baseball history to win 300 games.
Following his playing career, Sutton started a broadcasting career as an analyst on the Dodgers’ early cable telecasts then spent three decades broadcasting games for the Braves and Nationals. His number (20) was retired by the Dodgers following his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1998.
Sutton’s passing comes on the heels of the death of longtime Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda earlier this month and follows a 2020 that saw seven Hall of Famers die, the most sitting members of Cooperstown to pass away in a calendar year. They were Lou Brock, Whitey Ford, Bob Gibson, Al Kaline, Joe Morgan, Phil Niekro and Tom Seaver.
More to come on this story.