Sutton Is Not Defamed by a Defaced Baseball

Defaced balls are all the rage these days, but Don Sutton’s brush with baseball law goes way back. There are a lot of people in the game who are convinced Sutton has been Mr. Scuff ‘n’ Ready for a long, long time.

Doug Harvey, a veteran National League umpire, once ejected Sutton, then a Dodger pitcher, from a game in the late 1970s after discovering two defaced balls in two innings. Sutton ran into the clubhouse and came back with a letter from his lawyers that threatened a lawsuit. Harvey was unimpressed and Sutton got an early shower.

A decade later, Sutton’s powers of persuasion seem to have improved.

In the fifth inning Thursday night at Anaheim Stadium, home plate umpire Steve Palermo noticed something odd about a Sutton delivery to Ranger second baseman Jerry Browne and asked catcher Bob Boone for a look at the ball. Palermo took the ball out to Sutton and showed him the questionable marks.

Sutton gave Palermo, who did a lot more listening than talking during this confrontation, what appeared to be a stern lecture. Palermo then asked Sutton to remove his glove. Sutton, the man accused of doctoring the ball, held up his hands like a surgeon ready for the gloves. He was clean.

When Sutton reached out for his glove, however, Palermo pulled it away. But the umpire later handed it back without looking, or even feeling, inside.

“It was a very friendly conversation,” Sutton said later. “There were no accusations. He just said that he’d seen a couple of balls with marks on them.

“And I learned something I didn’t know. He (Palermo) told me that I’m responsible for every ball I throw. I guess I did most of the talking . . . I had a lot of questions.”

One of those that even the most inexperienced lip-readers could detect from the television monitors was: “Are you gonna . . . throw me out or not?”

The answer was no.

“We got three balls before that,” Palermo said, “and then he threw a pitch (to Browne) that did something funky. There was nothing after that. It wasn’t anything personal with Sutton, just business.”

Sutton returned to his business and turned in one of his better days at the office in a disappointing season. He has made it into the seventh inning just 12 times in 30 starts, and his earned-run average has hovered in the 4 to 5 range all season.

Thursday, he pitched seven strong innings, though, scattering seven hits, walking just one and striking out five. He got hurt by the home run ball again. Sutton, who has surrendered a club-record 35 homers this season, gave up No. 35 to the Rangers’ No. 9 hitter, left fielder Bob Brower, after catcher Don Slaught bunted safely for the Rangers’ first hit in the third.

But the Angels, who fell behind, 7-3, in the ninth, rallied to tie on a grand slam by pinch-hitter Mark Ryal and then win in the 10th on Devon White’s solo homer.

“This illustrates my point,” Sutton said. “You guys (reporters) shouldn’t be talking to me. Their comeback and Ryal’s and Devo’s homers shouldn’t be lost because I got inspected again.”

But scuffing, or attempted scuffing--or even use of inadvertently scuffed baseballs--is of interest.

“Palermo never accused Sutton of scuffing the ball,” said Manager Gene Mauch, who stood in the middle of the fifth-inning powwow on the mound. “He just accused him of using them.

“He was just accusing him of knowing what to do with it when he gets one.”