1988 Season/ Don Sutton

[GarveyFan]

Does anyone know why Don Sutton retired midway through the 1988 season. I do not remember him on that team, but it looks like he pitched the first half with the team.

Did he get injured or did the Dodgers decide he was ineffective?

[Elvis]

He wasn't effective. He went 3-6 with an era of around 4. He was released in August after the Dodgers acquired John Tudor.

Sutton was the most average pitcher ever elected to the HOF. Not really worthy IMO. If he had retired earlier instead of hanging around until age 43 he never would made the HOF. He never really had a Cy Young caliber season, never won 20 games, and his World Series stats were awfull, although he usually pitched well in the LCSs.

[GarveyFan]

I agree about him not being HOF material. As a Steve Garvey fan, I am not a big Don Sutton fan. I heard a rumor he may be a Dodger broadcaster--that would be bad.

What is the source on him being released? Can you find an article about it? I was wondering if it was amicable or not. He did have better stats than Fernando that year though.

[Elvis]

http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/suttodo01.php

He started the '88 season 3-2 and then went winless in his next nine starts. He was released a day after his last game (a loss) at Riverfront Stadium on August 10th. I guess he was pissed off at being released (and his career ending) in the middle of a road trip in Cincinnati. The Dodgers went the rest of the season with a four-man rotation. The next year Sutton began broadcasting with the Braves and I remember he started bad-mouthing the Dodgers almost immediately on the air. :laugh

It's still unnerving to me that the Dodgers have his number retired and not Gil Hodges. :mad:

And you're right, Fernando had one of his worst seasons in '88, but of course he wasn't a 43-year old and obviously at the end of his career like Sutton was.

[UnderPressure]

never won 20 games

Not to nitpick but, didn't he have one 20-win season in the 70's?


EDIT: It was in '76. He went 21-10.

[Elvis]

Not to nitpick but, didn't he have one 20-win season in the 70's?


EDIT: It was in '76. He went 21-10.

Yep, you're right. he had some good years including his great '72 season, but he was pretty inconsistant throughout his entire career, although he never was on the DL - pretty impressive for a 23-year career. But I think he lost nearly 300 games.

[BaseballHistoryNut]

First off, let me admit I really HATE Don Sutton, and his penchant for dropping his Bubbacrat political editorials here and there on Braves games. I hated him even before that, although I did admire his getting into that fight with Steve Garvey, lol....

Anyway, I have a recollection from that year. In August, he was making inquiries of the Atlanta Braves about THEIR broadcasting booth, while he was still wearing a Dodgers uniform. The general consensus was that this enraged Lasorda (whom I also detest) to the point he CUT Sutton.

If true, it's a great story, because it would mean Sutton's duplicity cost him the thing he was hanging on for: a World Series ring. Some two months later, the 1988 Dodgers won the World Series off the Steroid Brothers. So Slutton got his broadcasting job, but no ring.

I agree, by the way, that a guy with a .559 career W-L% (324-256), and an awesome career Adjusted E.R.A. of 108, should not see Cooperstown except as a tourist.

BHN