1977 don sutton

there is slightly more of don sutton to see, along with a slightly relocated facsimile autograph, on his 1977 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

sutton was only 14-8 for the dodgers in 1977 (breaking his string of five straight top-5 finishes in the cy young voting) but he did get to start the all-star game for the national league.  in fact, sutton's three innings of one-hit ball and four strikeouts earned him the win and the game's mvp award.  later in the year, sutton would make three postseason starts, earning the wins in game 2 of the nlcs against the phillies and in game 5 of the world series against the yankees, while having no decision after his start of game 1 of the fall classic.

voici à vous, 1977 don sutton!

1985 don sutton

don sutton was traded by the brewers to the a's in december of 1984. here's his fantastically colorful 1985 o-pee-chee card:

here's the topps front:

now the o-pee-chee back:

and the topps back:

sutton had bounced back from a bad 1983 season in milwaukee to post a winning record in 1984 while getting his era back under 4. he began the 1985 season 20 wins shy of 300 for his career, and he had earned 13 of those missing victories for the a's when they traded him to the angels in august. in five starts for the halos over the last month of the season, sutton was 2-2, meaning that his 300th win would have to wait until 1986. still, despite all the moving around, sutton was able to continue his record streak of seasons with at least 100 strikeouts, becoming the first to do so in 20 straight campaigns.

sutton's 1985 topps traded card showed him as an athletic - it's too bad o-pee-chee didn't step in and create a variation for that set, too.

voici à vous, 1985 don sutton!