Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Don Sutton Dead at 75

The Los Angeles Dodgers legend had cancer
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 20, 2021 12:05 AM CST
Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher Don Sutton Dead at 75
This June 8, 2013, photo shows Hall of Fame and former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton, right, and Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Sandy Koufax, left, during the Old-Timers game prior to a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles.   (Keith Birmingham/The Orange County Register via AP, File)

Don Sutton, a Hall of Fame pitcher who was a stalwart of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ rotation spanning an era from Sandy Koufax to Fernando Valenzuela, died Tuesday, the AP reports. He was 75. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, said Sutton died at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., after a long struggle with cancer. The Atlanta Braves, for whom Sutton was a long-time broadcaster, said he died in his sleep. A four-time All-Star, Sutton had a career record of 324-256 and an ERA of 3.26 while pitching for the Dodgers, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, California Angels, and the Dodgers again in 1988, his final season. The durable Sutton never missed a turn in the rotation in 756 big league starts. Only Cy Young and Nolan Ryan made more starts than Sutton, who never landed on the injured list in his 23-year career.

A master of changing speeds and pitch location, Sutton recorded just one 20-win season but earned 10 or more wins in every year except 1983 and 1988. Of his victories, 58 were shutouts, five were one-hitters, and 10 were two-hitters. The right-hander is seventh on the career strikeout list with 3,574. Sutton ranks third all-time in games started and seventh in innings pitched (5,282 1/3). He worked at least 200 innings in 20 of his first 21 seasons, with only the strike-shortened 1981 season interrupting his streak. “He worked as hard as anyone I've ever known and he treated those he encountered with great respect ... and he took me to work a lot,” his son, Daron, wrote on Twitter. "For all these things, I am very grateful.” (Much more on Sutton, who led the Dodgers to National League pennants in 1974, 1977, and 1978, here.)

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