OC Register: Don Sutton, Hall of Fame pitcher for Dodgers, dies at 75

[AngelsWin.com]

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  Hall of Famer and former Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton, right, chats with fellow Hall of Famer and Dodgers great Sandy Koufax before an Old-Timers game on June 8, 2013 at Dodger Stadium. Sutton passed away at age 75 on Tuesday morning. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)

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  Hall of Fame and former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton passed away at age 75. Former Los Angeles and Brooklyn Dodger left handed pitcher Sandy Koufax, left, talks with hall of famed and former Los Angeles Dodgers right hander, Don Sutton during the Old-Timers game prior to a baseball game between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, June 8, 2013 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)

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  The three living inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame hold their plaques after their induction in Cooperstown, N.Y. From left are Lee MacPhail Jr., a general manager and front office innovator with the Dodgers and Yankees, pitcher Don Sutton, and Larry Doby, the second black to play in the major leagues. (AP Photo/David Jennings)

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  ORG XMIT: SUTTON B (DI)* FORMER DODGER PITCHER DON SUTTON, WIPES AWAY TEARS DURING THE CEREMONY RETIRING HIS JERSEY #20, PRIOR TO THE DODGERS VS ATLANTA BRAVES, FRIDAY NIGHT AUGUST 14, 1998, AT DODGER STADIUM. SUTTON WAS INDUCTED INTO THE HALL OF FAME TWO WEEKS AGO.

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  Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton delivers a pitch during Game 3 of the 1978 World Series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 13, 1978. Sutton died on Tuesday at the age of 75. One of the most durable pitchers in modern history, Sutton is the Dodgers’ all-time leader in wins, games started, innings pitched and strikeouts. (AP Photo)

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  Don Sutton, 15-game winner for the Los Angeles Dodgers, is pictured in Los Angeles Wednesday, Oct. 12, 1978, before the start of second game of the World Series. Sutton is slated to start Friday night’s third game of the Series against the Yankees 25-game winner Ron Guidry. (AP Photo)

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  Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda, right, and pitcher Don Sutton are all smiles in the dugout as they watch their team defeat the Yankees, 6-1, in New York, Oct. 13, 1977, in the second game of the World Series. (AP Photo)

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  Dodgers Dusty Baker, left, and Don Sutton leave the field after the Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 7-1 in the second game of the NL Championship Series, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 1977, Los Angeles, Calif. Sutton, the pitcher, went the route, and Baker pushed the Dodgers ahead with a grand slam homer in the seventh. (AP Photo)

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  File-This Oct. 17, 1978, file photo shows, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton, left, following through as he fires his first pitch in World Series Game in Los Angeles. 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, Jan. 19, 2021. He was 75. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, said Sutton died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, after a long struggle with cancer. The Atlanta Braves, where Sutton was a long-time broadcaster, said he died in his sleep. (AP Photo, File)

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  Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton, right, sits at his dressing locker Tuesday, Oct. 17, 1978 in Los Angeles, after his team lost the 6th game to the Yankees and lost the World Series. (AP Photo)

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  Angels starting pitcher Don Sutton throws to the plate during Game 4 of the 1986 ALCS against the Boston Red Sox on Oct. 11, 1986, at Angel Stadium. (AP Photo)

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  Hall of Fame pitcher and former Angel Don Sutton throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a game between the Angels and the Atlanta Braves on May 22, 2011 at Angel Stadium. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

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  Atlanta Braves board caster and former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher and baseball Hall of Fame member Don Sutton rides in a car around the field before a baseball game against the Dodgers Monday, July 20, 2015, in Atlanta. Sutton was inducted the Atlanta Braves Hall of Fame earlier in the day. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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  Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton acknowledges the crowd before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles, Monday, Aug. 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Mark Avery)

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  Hall of Fame player and former Los Angeles Dodgers’ Don Sutton throws out the ceremonial first pitch before baseball game between the Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves, Thursday, June 6, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

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  Hall of Fame and former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Don Sutton passed away at age 75. Retired Los Angeles Dodgers numbers Don Sutton (20) and Don Drysdale’s (53) during a Major League Baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, May 8, 2018 in Los Angeles. Arizona Diamondbacks won 8-5 in 12 innings. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG)

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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 a 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. He helped the Dodgers reach the World Series in 1966, 1974, 1977 and 1978.

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, retiring before the end of a season that saw them win the World Series.

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). Sutton, who had a career record of 324-256 and an ERA of 3.26, 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. His 324 wins rank 14th in major league history.

“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,” Daron Sutton tweeted. “For all these things, I am very grateful.”

A master of changing speeds and pitch location, Sutton recorded just one 20-win season, but he earned 10 or more wins in every season except 1983 and 1988. Of his victories, 58 were shutouts, five were one-hitters and 10 were two-hitters.

He helped pitch Milwaukee to its first American League pennant in 1982 and worked for his sixth postseason team in 1986 with the AL West champion Angels. Sutton was 4-1 with a 2.02 ERA in seven National League Championship Series games and was 2-3 in eight World Series appearances. In the 1974 postseason for the Dodgers, he was 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA and 25 strikeouts in four games.

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.

“Don Sutton was one of our game’s most consistent winning pitchers across his decorated 23-year career,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement, calling Sutton “a model of durability on the mound.”

“Throughout his career, Don represented our game with great class, and many will remember his excitement during his trips to Cooperstown,” Manfred continued. “On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Don’s family, friends and the many fans he earned throughout a memorable life in our National Pastime.”

Born Donald Howard Sutton on April 2, 1945, in Clio, Alabama, he was the son of sharecroppers. The family moved to northern Florida, where Sutton was a three-sport star in high school who showed an affinity for baseball as a youngster. He played the sport in junior college before the Dodgers signed him as a free agent in September 1964, months before the first MLB draft.

After going 23-7 during one season in the minors, Sutton won a spot in the Dodgers’ rotation in 1966. He made his big-league debut for the defending World Series champions on April 14, 1966, and earned his first victory four days later. Sutton immediately found himself in a rotation with Koufax, Don Drysdale and Claude Osteen as the fourth starter. Sutton recorded 209 strikeouts that season, the highest total for a rookie since 1911. He helped the team win the National League pennant that season but didn’t pitch in the World Series as the Dodgers were swept in four games by the Baltimore Orioles.

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.

“2021 is just taking freaking legends man,” Alex Wood, a former Dodgers and Braves pitcher, wrote on Twitter. “Getting to be around Don every day my first few years with the Braves was something I will cherish forever. He genuinely cared about everyone he talked to and was a wealth of knowledge. Prayers up for his family.”

During his long career in Southern California, Sutton also took a stab at show business, appearing on the iconic game show, “Match Game.”

He joined the Braves broadcasts in 1989 when they were one of baseball’s worst teams but had developed a national following through the TBS superstation and its trio of broadcasters: Skip Caray, Pete Van Wieren and Ernie Johnson Sr.

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Sutton was part of the soundtrack for Atlanta’s worst-to-first season in 1991, its dominating run of 14 consecutive division titles, and the 1995 World Series championship. He called Braves games on television and radio for 28 of 30 seasons, interrupted only by his move to the Washington Nationals in 2007. He returned to the Braves in 2009 and continued to broadcast games through the 2018 season.

Shortly before the start of the following season, Sutton broke his left leg. He struggled with his recovery and never returned to the booth.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of our dear friend, Don Sutton,” the Braves said in a statement. “A generation of Braves fans came to know his voice as Don spent 28 seasons broadcasting Braves games. … Don was as feared on the mound as he was beloved in the booth. A 300-game winner who was a four-time All-Star, Don brought an unmatched knowledge of the game and his sharp wit to his calls. But despite all the success, Don never lost his generous character or humble personality. It is with a heavy heart that we send our condolences and sympathies to Don’s entire family.”

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.

“ENOUGH! #DonSutton Such a classy man,” Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench wrote on Twitter. “Great career not only in baseball but broadcasting as well. I am so sad.”

Besides his son, Sutton is survived by his wife, Mary, and daughters Staci and Jacquie.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Saddened to share that my dad passed away in his sleep last night. 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. For all these things, I am very grateful. Rest In Peace. pic.twitter.com/cvlDRRdVXa

— Daron Sutton (@lifeisgreatsut) January 19, 2021

Hall of Famer Don Sutton, the Dodgers' all-time record holder in a number of pitching categories (including wins, strikeouts, shutouts, starts and innings pitched), has passed away at the age of 75. https://t.co/FC9M51qFe5

— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) January 19, 2021

The Angels Organization is deeply saddened by the passing of Hall of Famer and former Halo Don Sutton. pic.twitter.com/IpxQJXOeRH

— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) January 19, 2021

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