Don Sutton auto in 1965 Dodgers program

[doug.goodman]

Found an interesting little tidbit while scanning my 1965 programs.

Sutton's rookie year was 1966, and I can't find anything on the interwebs about him being with the team late in the 1965 season, but the program is from the Sept 27 home game during the final homestand.

[doug.goodman]

After searching thru my late 1965 Sporting News issues, I found the following story in the Sept 25 issue (with Koufax on the cover), the playoff finished a week before the final Dodger homestand (Sept 24 thru Oct 3). so that explains him being with the team on Sept 27.

[Scott Garner]

Very cool, Doug! That's a great vintage Don Sutton autograph.
While working as the wine captain and wine buyer at The Ritz restaurant in Newport Center in 1986, I became pretty good friends with Don Sutton while pitching with the Angels. He always was a personal favorite of mine.

I had read that he celebrated each victory with a bottle of vintage cabernet and spoke to him when he visited The Ritz for the 1st time.
I offered to show him our vintage wine cellar, which really interested him.
This led to a tour of our kitchen, etc. Sutton made a point of asking for me every time he came to the resident and I would help him select wines.

Sutton, an OC resident at the time, became a frequent visitor of The Ritz and also became very active in our charitable organization called The Ritz Brothers.
Cool guy, and he recognized me at an autograph signing 10 years later...

[ocjack]

I remember attending card shows in the late 90's or early 2000's. One of the attendees had a license plate with "Sutton" or "DSutton" on it. It had belonged to him. But he told the attendee that he would "never" sign that plate because it was from the car his first wife got in the divorce. The attendee said he had brought it to several shows and received the same response from Sutton every time. Guess it wasn't a pretty divorce.

[slidekellyslide]

Had a baseball signed by him at a local show in the early 90s. He was pretty cranky, not talking to people, his “handlers” were doing all the talking. I came away disliking him. Mark Grace was at the same show and he was awesome.