don sutton is in my hall of famer collection

i don't remember it, but apparently the first time i saw don sutton in person was at disneyland.  my parents tell the story of how we were standing in a line (yes, virginia - there were lines at disneyland even in the early 1970's) and one of his kids commented on the dodger hat my dad was wearing. sutton and my dad made some small talk and that was that.

the lone hall of fame player from the team of my youth is in my hall of famer collection.  here's his entry - a 2001 fleer greats of the game certified autograph card:

this is the second card from this set i've shown in the collection (al kaline's card is also from this set), and the second 'repeat' of a set, in addition to the 2003 upper deck sp chirography cards featuring duke snider and dave winfield. here's the back:

the next few times i saw don sutton in person, he was on the bump at dodger stadium. included in those games was a start against the giants on august 5, 1979. during that outing, sutton tied and surpassed don drysdale on the dodgers' all-time career strikeout leaderboard with his 2,485th and 2,486th strikeouts. sutton and the dodgers beat the giants that day, and the highlight for me was a 3-run home run by steve garvey.

i also saw sutton pitch at dodger stadium in his final big league season, which was bittersweet. watching the 43-year old warm up, one of my friends and high school teammates exclaimed "we could hit this guy". we almost certainly couldn't have, but it was clear that the end of sutton's career was near. it was a great career, however - 324 wins (14th all-time) and 3,574 strikeouts (7th all-time) - even if he never did get that world series ring.

i have a few autographed cards of sutton in my collection (including one that he signed twice), but this is the only one i have duplicates of.  i also have an autographed item from another time i saw him in person, which was at his celebrity golf tournament in 1980. my dad got me a serving/bussing gig at the dinner after the tournament, and also had sutton sign the event ticket (for the record, my dad was in joe beckwith's foursome). i also worked at the tournament dinner in 1981, but sutton was gone to houston by then.  bill murray was there, however, and i got his autograph so i've got that going for me, which is nice.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relics

bob feller - 2001 topps archives

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relics

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autographs

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autographs 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autographs

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback

don sutton - 2001 fleer greats of the game

dave winfield - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 121/350

gary carter - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph collection

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame