Don Sutton, Hall of Fame pitcher for Dodgers, dies at 75

LOS ANGELES — Don Sutton, a Hall of Fame pitcher who was a stalwart of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ rotation spanning an era from Sandy Koufax to Fernando Valenzuela, died Tuesday. He was 75.

The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, said Sutton died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, after a long struggle with cancer. The Atlanta Braves, for whom Sutton was a long-time broadcaster, said he died in his sleep.

A four-time All-Star, Sutton had a career record of

324-256 and an ERA of 3.26 while pitching for the Dodgers, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland Athletics, California Angels and the Dodgers again in

1988, his final season. The durable Sutton never missed a turn in the rotation in 756 big league starts. Only Cy Young and Nolan Ryan made more starts than Sutton, who never landed on the injured list in his 23-year career.

A master of changing speeds and pitch location, Sutton recorded just one

20-win season, but earned

10 or more wins in every season except 1983 and

1988. Of his victories, 58 were shutouts, five were one-hitters and 10 were two-hitters. The right-hander is seventh on the career strikeout list with 3,574.

Sutton ranks third alltime in games started and seventh in innings pitched

(5,282.1). He worked at least

200 innings in 20 of his first 21 seasons, with only the shortened 1981 season interrupting his streak.

“He worked as hard as anyone I’ve ever known and he treated those he encountered with great respect … and he took me to work a lot,” his son, Daron, tweeted. “For all these things, I am very grateful.”

Born Donald Howard Sutton on April 2, 1945, in Clio, Alabama, he was the son of sharecroppers. The family moved to northern Florida, where Sutton was a three-sport star in high school who showed an affinity for baseball as a youngster. He played the sport in junior college before the Dodgers signed him as a free agent in September 1964, months before the first MLB draft.

He helped the Dodgers win National League pennants in 1974, 1977 and 1978. He left the team as a free agent in 1980 and signed with Houston.

A trade in 1982 sent Sutton to the Brewers, where he pitched Milwaukee to its first American League pennant. He worked for his sixth postseason team in

1986 with the AL West champion Angels and then returned to the Dodgers in

1988, retiring before the end of a season that saw them win the World Series.

Keith Birmingham / Associated Press This June 8, 2013, photo shows Hall of Fame and former Dodgers pitchers Don Sutton, right, and Sandy Koufax during an Old-Timers game in Los Angeles. Sutton, a Hall of Fame pitcher who spent most of his career as a Dodger, died Tuesday. He was 75.