31 August 2009

one post for every win

for post number 324, i salute a non-infielder member of the dodger teams of my youth, hall of famer don sutton.sutton is the winningest pitcher in dodger history, with 233 victories. for his career, he racked up 324 wins, good for 14th all-time. he is also 7th all-time in strikeouts with 3574.

i was lucky enough to see sutton pitch several times, including once in his final stint with the dodgers in 1988. he was clearly on his last legs then, but was still surprised to be released by the team during the heat of the pennant race. i can't blame him for being upset about it, but i think even he would agree that he was just about done.

he and steve garvey famously fought/wrestled/scratched each other in a clubhouse brawl that centered around what many believed to be garvey's fake image. apparently, sutton brought garvey's wife into the discussion and fisticuffs ensued.

but enough of that. here's to you, don sutton - the guy sandy koufax once referred to as 'the only 300 game winning teammate i ever had', and the only hall of fame player from the team of my youth!

2 comments:

Matt Runyon said...

Back in the 70s one would have thought there would be more than one HOFer from those Dodger teams. None of them (except Sutton) really put the career stats together.

Captain Canuck said...

fisticuffs!

and he's one heckuva announcer too. I'm glad the Braves realized their mistake in letting him go, and got him back, even if it was for just radio.