Legacy

What stands out in Don Sutton’s 23-year major league career is that he won over 300 games and accomplished this amazing feat without going on the disabled list once. This shows that not only was Sutton a tremendous baseball player, but also he displayed toughness and grit throughout his entire career to keep competing. Don is certainly the model for durability, consistency, and longevity. Over the course of 23 years there were no doubt times when Don felt fatigue in his arm and body and could have gone on the disabled list for a week or two to recover but instead he battled through this pain and continued to succeed. This durability and consistency is the legacy that Don leaves behind to the baseball world. In professional baseball, today, the amount of arm injuries to pitchers have increased steadily since 1974 (MLB Reports). There are multiple reasons these arm injuries may be increasing but one main reason could be that professional pitchers have become more fragile and thus lost the “tough” mindset that Don displayed during the era he played. Don is the perfect symbol of toughness and every current major leaguer should look to what he was able to do over his career and adopt some of his durability and consistency. This sense of toughness can be applied and looked to for all Americans and especially millennials entering the real world because in an era of being coddled, it is important to learn that when things get tough it is important not to back down but instead to push through even in the darkest of times and Don’s career represents that.

Outside the realm of baseball Don also left a tremendous legacy with his family and community. Don took on the role of being a father to his three children and he describes how as much as he loved baseball, he prioritized his family well ahead of baseball. This was displayed when his daughter, Jaqueline, was born prematurely at the same time Don was on the Hall of Fame ballot, Don said “With no offense to the Hall of Fame or anyone who holds a key to it, it just wasn’t that big of a deal” (Smith, NY Times). To his family, Don will be known as a family man. Among the Kidney Cancer community Don will be remembered as a role model and symbol for hope by being able to overcome advanced kidney cancer and help those currently going through the struggle with his “Stay in The Game” kidney cancer awareness program.

Life Outside Baseball

Don Sutton was a great baseball player, however, he also did a lot of things outside of baseball that were just as important in his personal development. Don got married to Patti Sutton in 1968 and would go on to have two children with her, Daron and Don Jr. This marriage had its ups and downs for both Don and Patti. In an interview with People magazine in 1982, Don and Patti explain that during their marriage there was a lack of trust and connection between the two of them because Don didn’t share his emotions and was too often away from home during the baseball season. Eventually Don and Patti would get divorced and Don would eventually remarry Mary Sutton. In this Marriage, Don and Mary would have a child, Jaqueline who was born four months premature and was severely underweight. Although Jaqueline would eventually recover, this struggle put everything in Don’s life into perspective. While Jaqueline was fighting for her life at only a few days old, Don was on the ballot to be selected to join the Hall of Fame. He would fall only nine votes short to be selected into the Hall of Fame which is an extremely small amount. Although being touted as a Hall of Famer may seem like a big deal and something Don focused on earlier in his career, at the time Don said “With no offense to the Hall of Fame or anyone who holds a key to it, it just wasn’t that big of a deal” (Smith, NY Times). The struggle Don and his family were enduring allowed him to prioritize what was truly important in his life.

After Don’s Retirement from Baseball in 1988 he began a broadcasting career in 1989. He split time between Dodgers cable telecasts and Atlanta Braves telecasts. The next year he would become the full-time commentator for the Braves. During his broadcasting career in 2002, Don was diagnosed with an advanced form of kidney cancer. Ultimately this would lead to the removal of his left kidney and eventually part of his lung. While undergoing cancer treatment, Don continued to broadcast for the Braves. He would leave the Braves in 2006 to become a color commentator for the Washington Nationals until 2009 when he would return to the Braves to become the radio broadcaster. Don is currently the co-radio broadcaster with Jim Powell for the Atlanta Braves. After his battle with kidney cancer, Don partnered with the Kidney Cancer Association to launch the “Stay in The Game” kidney cancer awareness program. The purpose of this program is to educate people affected by kidney cancer to seek support, resources, and information that can help them in their battle. As an individual living with advanced kidney cancer, Don credits “maintaining a healthy lifestyle, the knowledge of his healthcare team, cutting-edge medicine and the support of his family and friends for allowing him to continue to do the things he enjoys” (Health & Medicine).

 

Works Cited

“Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Don Sutton Helps Kidney Cancer Patients Stay In the Game(TM).” Health & Medicine Week 19 May 2008: 4106. Business Insights: Global. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.

McMurray, John. “Don Sutton — A Hall Of Famer Who Took Pride In Doing His Job.” Baseball Digest 66.6 (2007): 62-68. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.

Smith, C. (1997). When Fame Takes a Back Seat. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/28/sports/when-fame-takes-a-back-seat.html

Reilly, S. (1982). Don and Patti Sutton Were Striking Out Till They Got Help—and Now They’re Safe at Home – Vol. 17 No. 13. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://people.com/archive/don-and-patti-sutton-were-striking-out-till-they-got-help-and-now-theyre-safe-at-home-vol-17-no-13/

Baseball Career

Don Sutton’s 23-year major league baseball career is defined by Sutton not going to the disabled list even once during his career. Don’s durable career began when he was signed by the Dodgers as an amateur free agent in 1964 when he was only 19 years-old. At 21 years-old The Dodgers would call Don up to the major leagues to begin the 1966 season. Don would make his major-league debut against the Houston Astros on April 14, although the Dodgers lost that game, Don held the Astros to two earned runs over seven innings. During his 14 years with the Dodgers, Don was a four-time All-Star and would go on to pitch in three separate World Series. In 1977 Don won the MLB All-Star Game MVP and in 1980 was the MLB ERA leader. In 1980 he was released from the Dodgers and would then sign with the Astros but would be traded midseason a year later in 1982 to the Milwaukee Brewers. With the Brewers, Sutton started two games in the 1982 World Series but would ultimately lose the series to the St. Louis Cardinals. In 1985, Don was traded to the Oakland Athletics but was traded in September to the California Angels. Don would sign again with the Dodgers in 1988 but would be released in August, ending his Baseball career. Currently Don is 14^th in career wins, seventh in career strikeouts, and seventh in innings pitched.  Don was inducted into the National Baseball Hall-of-fame in 1998.

 

Works Cited

McMurray, John. “Don Sutton — A Hall Of Famer Who Took Pride In Doing His Job.” Baseball Digest 66.6 (2007): 62-68. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.

@BaseballHall. “Don Sutton.” Baseball Hall of Fame. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.

 

Pre-Baseball Life

Donald Howard Sutton was born in Clio, Alabama on April 2, 1945 to Howard and Lillian Sutton who were Christian Fundamentalists. When Don was born, his mother was only 15 years old and his father was 18. His parents were tenant farmers and “never made more than $40 a week” (Reilly, S.). Growing up, Don said that he always had enough to eat but there were never any extras. Looking for work, his parents moved Don and their family to Molino, Florida where Don attended J.M. Tate High School. Don worked part-time jobs to earn spending and clothing money. In 1963 Don Graduated High School and was voted “most likely to succeed” by his classmates. After High School Don attended Gulf Coast Community College in Florida and then Whittier College in California. Don had a younger brother and sister and said that they all were expected by their parents to “pull [their] weight” and they never received any “pats on the back” (Reilly, S.). What Don meant by this was that he and his siblings were expected to earn their own money and help provide for the family which displays that growing up Don’s family was in a lower economic class. Growing up Don’s parents were never openly affectionate toward their children but Don claims that he always knew his parents loved each of them. Don grew up during the 1950’s and 1960’s. This was a crucial era in America because it shaped how America was portrayed by the rest of the world. The 1950’s in America was defined by an attempt to preserve American Society from communism and specifically the Soviet Union. After World War II the U.S. feared that “the spread of communism anywhere threatened democracy and capitalism everywhere” (History.com). This fear was the driving force behind the Cold War and the “Red Scare” of the 1950’s, the education Don was receiving in school was meant to promote American society. Another major key element of the era that Don grew up in was the Civil Rights Movement. It was in 1954 that the Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education took place which declared that “Separate educational facilities for Black Children were inherently unequal” (History.com). Don was born in Alabama where the Civil Rights Movement was very strong. The Montgomery bus boycott took place in Montgomery, Alabama and after thirteen months ultimately allowed for African Americans to sit wherever they like on the city’s buses. Two years after Don was born, Jackie Robinson made his Major League Debut as the first African-American man in the Major Leagues with Don’s eventual team, the Dodgers. Between 1945 and 1960 the U.S. Gross National Product more than doubled as a result of government spending on infrastructure such as interstate highways and schools. This shift away from farming in the American economy is the reason Don’s parents moved from Clio, Alabama to find laborious work in the booming industry of consumer goods that paid higher wages.

Works Cited

@. (n.d.). Don Sutton Statistics and History | Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved October 05, 2016, from http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/suttodo01.shtml

@. (n.d.). Don Sutton. Retrieved October 05, 2016, from http://baseballhall.org/hof/sutton-don

Reilly, S. (1982, April 05). Don and Patti Sutton Were Striking Out Till They Got Help—and Now They’re Safe at Home. Retrieved October 05, 2016, from http://people.com/archive/don-and-patti-sutton-were-striking-out-till-they-got-help-and-now-theyre-safe-at-home-vol-17-no-13/

History.com Staff. (2010). The 1950s. Retrieved October 05, 2016, from http://www.history.com/topics/1950s

 

 

Proposal

Hall-of-Fame pitcher Don Sutton never spent a day on the disabled list during his 23-year major league career. He was one of the most durable players of all time, pitching more than 200 innings in 20 different seasons. This is what really stood out to me and why I ultimately chose Don Sutton for my baseball profile. It seems like in baseball today, pitchers will miss a whole year to have Tommy John surgery at least once during their careers, which is why it is so impressive that Don never even went on the disabled list for a minor injury. Don made his major league debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers at the beginning of the 1966 season. During his 14 years with the Dodgers he would pitch in three separate World Series and was a four-time all-star.  Don also won the MLB All-Star Game MVP in 1977 and was the MLB ERA leader in 1980. Currently Don is 14^th in career wins, seventh in career strikeouts, and 7^th in innings pitched (Digest McMurray).  Don was released from the Dodgers in 1980 and spent the rest of his career with multiple teams until he eventually returned to the dodgers in 1988 where he would retire at season’s end. After his playing career Don was diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer but has been successful in managing his disease. Because of this struggle Don teamed up with the Kidney Cancer association to launch the “Stay in The Game” Kidney Cancer Awareness program.

Works Cited

McMurray, John. “Don Sutton — A Hall Of Famer Who Took Pride In Doing His Job.” Baseball Digest 66.6 (2007): 62-68. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.

“Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Don Sutton Helps Kidney Cancer Patients Stay In the Game(TM).” Health & Medicine Week 19 May 2008: 4106. Business Insights: Global. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.

Crothers, Tim. “A Vote For Don Sutton.” Sports Illustrated 87.5 (1997): 84. SPORTDiscus with Full Text. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.

Print-

BRYANT, HOWARD (12/24/2012). “DON SUTTON.”. ESPN Magazine (New York, N.Y.)(1097-1998), 15 (24), p. 90.