a sweet spot for sutcliffe

here's a card that's just about 40 years old - rick sutcliffe's 1984 fleer update card

i have valued this card ever since my dad handed me the update set in the fall of '84 and i saw that sutcliffe was standing in dodger stadium. sutcliffe was the first dodger rookie of the year during my fandom, so i was a fan even after he was traded away to cleveland and i continued to follow his career in the newspaper box scores and baseball publications i had at my disposal back then. plus, i had caught cubs fever that season and marveled at the stats sutcliffe had put up after his trade from cleveland. 

seeing the pen and ball in sutcliffe's right hand, i always assumed that he was signing autographs for some fans and the photographer requested a quick photograph. a couple of weeks ago, however, i saw the photograph used for the card in much greater detail

i quickly zoomed in to see if i could make out his signature on the ball and was surprised when i saw this (rotated for your convenience)

that's sandy koufax's signature! on the sweet spot! how cool is that?!

i assume koufax is standing just off camera, and i figure somewhere there is a photo of the two cy young award winners together. and, i wonder if sutcliffe signed the ball in his left hand to give to koufax or if perhaps someone who worked for the dodgers such as don newcombe (another roy and cy young award winner) was also on the field that day to sign the ball.

in other news, today marks the 30th anniversary of sutcliffe's final big league appearance. he was a cardinal then, and earned the win against the braves although he left the game during charlie o'brien's at bat in the sixth inning after allowing a run to score on a wild pitch. it turned out that he had a shoulder injury and was placed on the disabled list shortly after the game. then came the strike and the free agent sutcliffe never returned to a big league mound. 

always a good hitting pitcher, he did double in his final big league at bat, so he has that going for him. he also may very well have a sandy koufax signed baseball in his trophy room, nestled in between a rookie of the year trophy and a cy young award.