Don Sutton, Calling It as He Sees It

By Michael E. Hill
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, July 8, 2007

With the 78th Major League Baseball All-Star Game scheduled Tuesday and Hall of Fame induction festivities beginning a couple of weeks later in Cooperstown, N.Y., July is a month that holds many memories for MASN baseball color commentator Don Sutton.

Sutton, 62, joined the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network this season, teaming with play-by-play broadcaster Bob Carpenter to call Washington Nationals games. For the previous 18 years, Sutton filled a similar role on Turner Sports telecasts of the Atlanta Braves.

His work in the broadcast booth followed 23 seasons as a starting pitcher in the major leagues, which included four appearances in the All-Star Game. Sutton pitched a total of eight innings in those stints without giving up an earned run.

"The All-Star Game was fun," Sutton recalled. "It was fun to sit there between Johnny Bench and Hank Aaron. To play with Willie Mays. To be in the same room with Joe Morgan. All the stars I grew up wanting to play against and with -- I was now in the same room with them."

All of those players, like Sutton, are in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"One of my biggest thrills in life was to get to start the 1977 All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium," he said. In that game, he pitched three innings, got credit for the win and took home the Most Valuable Player trophy. "That was a whole lot of stuff that went together."

Since Sutton's playing days, the All-Star Game has grown in scope, with fan-oriented attractions beginning four days prior to the main event. The popular Home Run Derby airs Monday at 8 p.m. on ESPN, and Fox will carry the game itself Tuesday from AT&T Park in San Francisco. Pre-game ceremonies start at 8 p.m., and the first pitch is scheduled for 8:42 p.m.

"It's turned into a gala, and I think that's wonderful," Sutton said. "I love the Home Run Derby, I love all the fan-fest that goes on around the game, because it really has turned into a festival."

The All-Star Game also has become a factor in the World Series. Not a good idea, Sutton said.

"To me, it's an absolute joke that an exhibition game determines which league gets the home-field advantage in something as big as the World Series -- it's an exhibition game," he said.

"I've been in the business long enough to see it as what it is. It's a marketing tool to bump up the television viewing of the game. They're saying, 'This time it means something.' Well, it meant something to us. It was the pride of representing your league."

A Comfortable Transition

As Sutton discussed his career on the field and in the broadcast booth, he relaxed in a box seat behind home plate at RFK Stadium. On a sunny afternoon, hours before game time, the Nationals were taking batting practice and signing autographs.

The signature-seekers orbited Sutton, too, adding a warm touch to the newcomer's welcome to Washington.

Carpenter has helped ease Sutton's transition as well. On the air, they work together as smoothly as a shortstop and second baseman turning a slick double play.

"In spring training, after one game, we looked at each other and said it felt as if we'd been working together a long time," Carpenter said. "We both love the game and love to see baseball played the right way. We like to broadcast it the right way, too."

Carpenter's approach has been to play to Sutton's strength, steering him to the subject of pitching, which is a big issue with the rebuilding Nats.

"I try to play the role of a fan, to set him up on some of his tangents on pitching," said Carpenter, who is in his 24th season of doing big-league broadcasts. "I've learned a lot from him in a short period of time."

Sutton took the MASN job after an abrupt departure from Atlanta. He doesn't sugarcoat the separation.

"I got fired," said Sutton, bluntly but not angrily. "I have no idea why. After 18 years. In a brief, three-minute phone call. 'Thanks for showing up. We're going in a different direction. God bless you; we wish you the best.' It happens."

Sutton rebounded this season, his move to Washington enhanced by the fact that he has a number of friends and former associates in the Nationals organization.

Watching the Nationals' sometimes futile efforts on the field after years of describing the Braves' regular runs for the playoffs has not discouraged Sutton. During his Atlanta tenure, he recalled, the Braves struggled while a winning franchise was being put together. Besides, Sutton said, what happened in Atlanta can happen here.

"I've already seen this movie," he said. "And it has a happy ending."

Getting to Know the Area

Meanwhile, Sutton has rebuilt his own in-season life here in Washington. Aside from traveling to the District when Atlanta played the Nationals, he'd seen little of the city.

"I had been to the White House and the Capitol twice with some programs I was involved in," he recalled, "but I wasn't that familiar with Washington."

The Sutton family home is in California, but Sutton has bought a townhouse in Alexandria. "I wanted to live in the District, but I couldn't afford it," he said. "We wanted three bedrooms; that's all we wanted. I was prepared to pay X dollars and three-times-X was what was run by me."

Sutton's wife, Mary, coaxed him to get a place near the Metro so she and their 10-year-old daughter, Jackie, could take the subway around town on summer sightseeing trips.

"They've laid out their summer plans. It'll be a good civics class for them," he said.

Sutton, though, has been driving to work -- and enjoying it. "When I go by the Capitol and the monuments, I still get goose bumps," he said. "And I hope I never lose that because of the importance of what this city is to a way of life I believe in."

NATIONALS BASEBALL

MASN and MASN2

Sutton's Stats

Born: April 2, 1945, in Clio, Ala.

Family: Wife, Mary; their daughter, Jackie, 10. Sutton also has a son, Daron, who does play-by-play for the Arizona Diamondbacks; and a daughter, Staci, who works for a wine import company.

Baseball:

· Played in the major leagues from 1966 to 1988, primarily for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and for the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics and California Angels.

· Pitched in four World Series; was named to four All-Star teams.

· Won 324 games (tied for 14th all-time), recorded 3,574 strikeouts (No. 7 all-time); had a career earned-run average of 3.26.

· Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1998.

Proudest Career Accomplishment: "Making over 750 consecutive scheduled starts. There was a lot I couldn't control, but I could go to work."

More Baseball on TV:

<<ALL-STAR GAME: The majors' best duke it out from San Francisco (Tuesday, 8 p.m., Fox). Pre-game-day fare is highlighted by the annual Home Run Derby (Monday, 8 p.m., ESPN) and Futures Game (Sunday, 4 p.m., ESPN2).

THE BRONX IS BURNING: Set in 1977 New York, this miniseries chronicles the feud between Yankee Reggie Jackson and team manager Billy Martin. Premieres Monday, 10 p.m., ESPN.

>> BROOKLYN DODGERS: THE GHOSTS OF FLATBUSH: The story of Jackie Robinson's team and its bitter rivalry with the Yankees. Wednesday, 8 p.m., HBO.