Column: Don Sutton shouldn’t be a forgotten link between Dodgers greatness of the past and now

In a magical Dodgers summer where destiny could be colliding with history, every bit of Dodgers greatness seems to unearth another Dodgers great.

With every Clayton Kershaw start, somebody mentions Sandy Koufax. With every Kenley Jansen save, there appears Eric Gagne. As Cody Bellinger swings, so does Mike Piazza. Corey Seager doesn’t just play shortstop, he is a throwback jersey bearing the names of Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey.

From one dramatic moment to the next, the names of Dodgers legends keep pinging across the landscape, bonding the past and present with all the appropriate bridges, all except for one.

One name is never mentioned. Yet, as much as anyone, it is a name that epitomizes this current team’s work ethic, professionalism and plain willingness to show up.

Does anybody out there remember Don Sutton?

He’s the only one of the Dodgers’ 10 retired numbers who has no ties to Brooklyn.

He’s the only Dodgers player in the Hall of Fame who began and ended his career in Los Angeles and is immortalized on a Cooperstown plaque with a Los Angeles cap.

He’s the Dodgers leader in nearly every important pitching category with several career records that might never be broken even by an entire rotation of Kershaws.

He pitched in a rotation not only with Koufax and Don Drysdale, but also Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser, his career spanning not just mere seasons, but eras.

Yeah, that guy.

It has been far too easy to forget Sutton as he has been out of sight and out of mind while forging a life on the other side of the country as an Atlanta Braves broadcaster for most of the last 29 years. But rest assured, Don Sutton has not forgotten about Los Angeles.

“I am 100% convinced that if I had spent most of my career anywhere but with the Dodgers, I would not have the record, not have the Hall of Fame, not have the life I enjoyed,’’ Sutton said this week in a phone interview. “All those Dodger people gave me all of that. It’s my alma mater, and all the good I had in baseball came from them.’’

Sutton, 72, could have enjoyed a nice homecoming at Dodger Stadium this weekend with the Braves in town. In fact, that was the impetus for the timing of this column. But he has always chosen family over self-promotion, and thus didn’t come west, instead taking advantage of the midseason break to spend time with his 91-year-old father Howard in Florida.

While he threw the last pitch of his career for the Dodgers in the summer of 1988, and even though he lives in Rancho Mirage during the offseason, he has never been employed by the Dodgers. He seemed like a natural replacement for Vin Scully, but either the timing was never right or the Dodgers’ interest was never there. He has been so close, yet so far, the Dodgers great who got away, and now he knows that the time for any triumphant return has passed.

“I don’t know where you’d put a 72-year-old man,’’ he said with a laugh. “At this stage of my life, I’m not sure it would make sense, but I will always love them.’’

In various ways, the Dodgers have also professed their love for him. They’ve given him a bobblehead night, honored him as part of opening day, and, of course, retired his No. 20 jersey in 1998 with an emotional ceremony that brought Koufax back to Chavez Ravine. But they’ve never been able to work out anything permanent, and that’s too bad, because imagine Sutton hanging out talking to young Dodgers pitchers the way Don Newcombe sits elegantly behind the batting cage and counsels Jansen.

�In his case, the record book really does speak for itself,’’ said Mark Langill, Dodgers historian. “There have been so many flashes in Dodger history, but Don Sutton was not a flash, his was a body of work that lasted a generation.’’

The only quote necessary to describe the pitcher is two words that come from Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda. When Lasorda is asked who he would want on the mound if he had to win one game, his answer is always the same.

“Don Sutton,’’ he says, and that’s pretty much all you need to know.

“I don’t have any fantasy or thought of being the best pitcher in Dodger history,’’ Sutton said. “But I would like to think I got everything I could get out of what I was gifted with.�

Did he ever. Just check out his numbers. Critics have noted that he never had a Cy Young Award-winning season, he was never active for a World Series-winning team, and became a Hall of Famer simply because he won 324 games while pitching for 23 years. But goodness, those years between 1966 and 1988, including 16 as a Dodger, were as consistent and powerful as any in baseball history.

“When I was getting on the bus to go to my first professional spring training with the Dodgers, my father, who was a farmer and construction worker, put his hands on my shoulders and said, ‘Son, there’s always going to be somebody better than you, but don’t let anybody outwork you,’ ’’ Sutton said. “I never forgot those words.�

You know how today’s pitchers seem to be constantly rotating through the disabled list? Sutton never missed a start because of an injury for 22 consecutive seasons.

You know how Kershaw is justifiably celebrated for having at least 100 strikeouts in each of his 10 seasons? Sutton, the club’s career strikeout leader, reached that mark for 21 consecutive seasons.

Sutton has a career-leading 233 Dodgers victories, nearly 100 more than legends Hershiser and Valenzuela. Sutton has a career-leading 52 Dodgers shutouts, which is 37 more shutouts than the next closest active Dodger in Kershaw.

His career was also marked by his infamous clubhouse fight with Garvey in 1978, and the constant chatter that he doctored the ball even though he never served a suspension for any wrongdoing.

“Let’s just say I would never willingly throw a ball out of game if it happened to have blemish,’’ he said with a laugh. “I exhausted every effort to win a ballgame for my team.’’

Perhaps his crowning achievement is leading the franchise in games started and innings pitched with an approximate two-season lead over runner-up Drysdale. Nobody will break those records. Nobody will even come close.

“I just wanted to be ready when it was my turn,’’ Sutton said. “I can honestly say in my time there, I never shortchanged anyone in any ounce of effort, or minute of preparation.’’

Hmmm. Sound like any other group of guys you know? Don Sutton might not be around much anymore, but these days, he’s everywhere.

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