Adding to my fun thread celebrating the 100th anniversary of National League baseball, we have Los Angeles Dodgers ace Don Sutton in my 1977 "Centennial" thread:
Sutton was in the middle of a wonderful 23-year run in the Major
Leagues, reeling off win after win for the Los Angeles Dodgers since he
came up as a 21-year-old in 1966.
In
1976 he would post his only 20-win season of his long career, winning
21 and finishing third in the Cy Young race at season's end.
The man was a machine, and while some people think incredible steadiness
like this doesn’t warrant a Hall of Fame selection, I do! There is
something to celebrate when a player performs year after year over a
long period of time (think Eddie Murray) without having a “mega-season”
along the way.
By the time Sutton left the game after the 1988 season, he finished with 324 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 58 shutouts and 3574 strikeouts in 774 appearances, 756 of them starts.
Needless to say, in 1998, on his fifth try, he made it into Cooperstown, joining former teammates Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, with 81.6% of the vote.
By the time Sutton left the game after the 1988 season, he finished with 324 wins, a 3.26 earned run average, 58 shutouts and 3574 strikeouts in 774 appearances, 756 of them starts.
Needless to say, in 1998, on his fifth try, he made it into Cooperstown, joining former teammates Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, with 81.6% of the vote.
