when the dodgers came to my hometown

i teased this topic a while back in a couple of don sutton related posts (here and here) although you wouldn't necessarily know what it's about from the photo of sutton that i included in those posts.  first, this 1983 fleer joe beckwith card

arrived amongst a bunch of other dodger cards i added a few months ago. in addition to being added to my dodger stadium collection, the card reminded me that i never followed up on my promised post because as much as it is about don sutton, it's also about beckwith.

to be fair, i've written about this a couple of other times - here and here - but my dad sent me some pictures that i hadn't seen in over 40 years and i figured i would revisit the event. in the late 1970's and early 1980's, my dad was involved with a group of local businessmen who were raising money for a new ymca facility. don sutton agreed to lend a name to a golf tournament, and in november of 1980, the first don sutton celebrity golf tournament was held.

i was only nine, so i didn't golf, but my dad did. he was assigned to joe beckwith's foursome and took this photo 

of the dodger pitcher from his side of the golf cart.

that was the only photo he took at the course, but later there was a dinner reception. my dad had both sutton

and beckwith

sign his ticket for me, and he got them to pose for a picture. not this one...

this one.

now i was at the dinner, too, but my role was serving and bussing the tables. still, i was able to mingle a bit after the dinner and get some autographs. in one of the posts i linked to up above, i wrote about meeting al downing. it was a memorable encounter (even if i couldn't remember at the time i wrote that post whether it was the first or second golf tourney). so, it was great to see that my dad had snapped a photo of downing

from earlier in the evening. 

sadly, both sutton and beckwith passed away in 2021 but that is certainly not how they are linked in my memory thanks to this event and their roles on the dodger pitching staff.