The baseball world has lost a Hall of Famer.
The baseball world has lost a Hall of Famer. Longtime starting pitcher Don Sutton died in his sleep on Monday night, according to his son. Sutton was 75.
In his 23-year career, Sutton was a four-time All-Star who finished in the top five in Cy Young voting five times, topping out at third. He won an ERA title in 1980 at 2.20, four times led his league in WHIP and three times led in strikeout-to-walk ratio. He played mostly for the Dodgers, but also spent time with the Angels, Brewers, Astros and Athletics.
"Don Sutton's brilliance on the field, and his lasting commitment to the game that he so loved, carried through to his time as a Member of the Hall of Fame," Jane Forbes Clark, Chairman of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, said in a release. "I know how much he treasured his moments in Cooperstown, just as we treasured our special moments with him. We share our deepest condolences with his wife, Mary, and his family."
A model of durability, Sutton racked up 324 wins (14th all-time), 3,574 strikeouts (seventh all-time) and 5,282 1/3 innings (seventh all-time). He holds the MLB record for 200-inning seasons at 20. He's tied for fifth with 15 seasons of at least 225 innings. In the first 15 years of his career, all with the Dodgers, Sutton averaged 249 innings per season.
Sutton ranks third all-time in career starts. Here's the leaderboard:
Cy Young, 815
Nolan Ryan, 773
Don Sutton, 756
He's even ninth in history in batters faced.
Sutton pitched in five different postseasons, advancing to the World Series as a pennant winner with the 1974 Dodgers, 1977 Dodgers, 1978 Dodgers and 1982 Brewers. Winning the World Series while being an active player eluded Sutton, as he was released from the championship-winning Dodgers in August of 1988.
Sutton was enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 1998 in his fifth try on the ballot, netting 81.6 percent of the vote.
This story was originally published by CBS Sports on Jan. 19, 2021.
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