DON SUTTON COMES FULL CIRCLE : Back in a Dodger Uniform at 42, He’s Not a Prodigal Son, Nor a Nine-Inning Pitcher, but He’s Not Finished Yet, Either

An elderly man, hands gnarled and skin discolored, stood behind a chain-link fence one morning last month and watched Dodger pitchers perform an exercise in monotony called, simply, covering first base. He turned to a friend and then pointed at Don Sutton, who was walking toward the mound.

“Yeah, I remember coming out to Dodgertown when I was a boy and watching Sutton pitch,” the old man said. “But he had straight hair back then.”

The man was joking, of course, but he did recall seeing Sutton roaming these green pastures nearly a decade ago as his Dodger career was grinding to a halt. Sutton was getting older, you know, and when he reached free-agent status, they cut him loose.

Sutton, who will turn 43 two days before opening day, has returned to the place where he spent his first 15 springs, dating to the mid-1960s. The divorce between the Dodgers and Sutton seemed final, but they reconciled after last season. By then, Sutton had taken his act to four other teams and, having been set adrift by the Angels, was sort of looking around again. Coincidentally, the Dodgers were suddenly in need of pitching.

A prodigal son, he isn’t, though. Sutton is more a father figure these days.

Once a freshly scrubbed kid with straight, sandy hair, Sutton now has his age etched into his face, and gray, permed hair hugs his scalp.

Sutton’s spring has already been eventful, if not entirely pleasant. John Candelaria, Sutton’s teammate last season with the Angels, last month accused Sutton of alerting police that Candelaria had been drinking, so that Sutton would be certain of a spot in the rotation.

Sutton ultimately responded that his action was motivated strictly by fear that Candelaria would harm himself.

But the important thing in this Hollywood sequel is Sutton’s pitching ability, not his age, cosmetics or disagreements.

With Bob Welch plying his trade in Oakland after a winter trade, the Dodgers need another reliable starting pitcher.

And even though Sutton’s fledgling business empire is said to be prospering, and his post-baseball ambitions seemingly know no bounds, he readily delayed all that to try to add to his 321 major league victories and renew relations with his original club for future business dealings.

But the question again, can this fortysomething pitcher still be productive?

It seems that Sutton has the desire, physical gifts and the ego needed to compete against players decades younger. He has learned his limitations and apparently has accepted them. As in recent years, though, doubts shroud Sutton’s spring. On the team plane heading to Vero Beach in mid-February, Sutton picked up a newspaper and read that his shelf life might already have expired, considering that he gave up 38 home runs in 34 starts with the Angels last season.

“There’s a whole different set of expectations and a lower tolerance for incompetence,” Sutton said. “A 24-year-old can foul it up and it’s a learning process. But a 42-year-old, it’s (time for) another line of work.

“I view it pragmatically. That (talk) started 10 or 12 years ago. I’m fortunate that, after 10 or 12 years, people can still bring up that statement. I’d rather be here and have people raise questions than be sitting at home and have nobody asking me anything.”

Though Sutton wants to be more than a remnant, he accepts that part of the deal, too.

Between workouts, Sutton invariably stops to sign autographs, pose for photographs with babies and converse with fans. One day, he held court for 40 Japanese reporters.

Sutton has contemplated a second career in politics. He merely smiled when the rumor was passed along that he will someday be eyeing a spot on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

Asked his political leaning, Sutton said: “Well, like a lot of the doubles I give up, I’m right-center.”

Sutton, who also runs an Orange County financial planning corporation with 600 clients, has the business background to become a baseball executive. He is rumored to be joining Dodger management’s rotation next season. Or perhaps he might choose to make the shorter drive from his Laguna Hills home and become an Angel broadcaster.

“Each one sounds positive,” Sutton said. “All those categories have been discussed and explored, but not specifics. When I called my wife (in December) and told her I was talking to the Dodgers, she asked, ‘As what?’ She didn’t think about me still playing.”

People are always talking with Sutton about life after baseball, but all he wants to do now is focus on pitching.

As in his younger days, Sutton is one of the first Dodgers to arrive in the morning and one of the last to leave. He believes his work habits are most important to his longevity.

“I believe you earn the right to be where you are,” Sutton said. “I can’t do a lot of things I used to, but I think I’m smarter. I can’t run, so I ride the (exercise) cycle 45 minutes. I do some sort of workout every day.

“In 1966, I could get away with more stupidity. I think I probably had poor eating habits and didn’t have a great knowledge about working out. But I brought the same effort and preparation. I always wanted to be the guy who worked the hardest. I weighed 185 at the end of my first season (1966). I weighed 188 this morning.”

There have been changes in Sutton, though. He realized a few years ago that he could no longer be a dominating pitcher, so he adapted.

“I have no problem accepting the fact that I’m not a nine-inning pitcher anymore; that’s a reality,” Sutton said. “But I have a problem being told I’m only a five- or six-inning pitcher. I think each effort should be judged on its own merit.

“What most people don’t realize is that if I screw it up, I stand to lose more than anybody. One of the great fears of my life is the fear of embarrassment. So, I will not knowingly do anything to embarrass the club.

“I don’t just want to hang around and collect the check. This is a wonderful profession . . . and in the context of a season, if my being here isn’t justified, then I don’t want to keep playing. I’ve probably gone far beyond the the years I have a right to expect, but still there is a role for me.”

Welch’s absence created an opening. Either by seniority or reputation, Sutton has tentatively been given the third spot in the Dodgers’ rotation, and five others have been vying for the final two spots.

Ron Perranoski, the Dodgers’ pitching coach and a former teammate of Sutton in the ‘60s, says the coaching staff has realistic expectations about Sutton.

“I’m not looking for him to throw the ball through the screen,” Perranoski said. “He knows what to do. He’s been around long enough. The rest of the staff looks up to him.”

They also might be looking to dislodge him from the rotation. The Dodgers have several promising young pitchers, including Tim Belcher and Shawn Hillegas, both in their early 20s, and Ramon Martinez, who, at 19, was not even born when Sutton made his major league debut.

“I don’t see myself competing (with younger pitchers),” Sutton said. “Either I can do it, or I can’t. When I joined the club, (Claude) Osteen, (Sandy) Koufax and (Don) Drysdale, especially Drysdale, passed on information and helped me with the transition of the pitching tradition that goes with the Dodgers. They bridged the gap.

“If I can help them make the transition easier, I will. I’m not going to hang a sign over my locker saying, ‘Prof. Sutton: Baseball Information Taught Here.’ I don’t like people forcing themselves and their viewpoints on me, but if one of these kids has a question, we’ll find the answer. I don’t profess to know all there is, but I’ve been around long enough to know where to look.”

One thing about growing older, you recognize and appreciate irony more often. His return to the Dodgers, once almost unthinkable, gives Sutton pause.

“I think (the split with the Dodgers) was probably perceived as a bigger deal than it was,” he said. “It was a business decision they made, probably one that, if I had been sitting in their chairs, I would have made, too.

“I don’t perceive it as any divorce or burnt bridges. But I also never thought, from a logical basis, that it made sense (to return).”

In fact, some still recall the time in 1981, when Sutton first visited Dodger Stadium as a Houston Astro, that Don and son Daron came dressed in matching T-shirts that originally read: “I Luv Dodgers” in blue. But the Dodgers was crossed out and Astros was written in orange underneath it.

Sutton’s effect on the Dodger clubhouse has also been questioned in the wake of Candelaria’s remarks. Sutton was incensed by the story and originally declined to answer reporters’ questions, then finally did so in a prepared statement.

But most Dodger players, especially young pitchers, have said that Sutton is a positive influence.

“I look up to him,” Hillegas said. “Anyone who has pitched as long as he has, I’ve got to respect. He knows a lot and he’s willing to help. He showed me a grip on my changeup that has really helped me this spring. He doesn’t feel like he’s competing or anything.”

Then, there is the matter of Sutton’s relationship with Manager Tom Lasorda. At the time of Sutton’s signing, both talked of mutual respect. In the latter days of Sutton’s first Dodger tenure, they reportedly didn’t get along.

Has time healed the wounds?

“When you ask that, you’re implying there was a wound,” Sutton said. “I don’t see any real sense in replying in a column to somebody else’s implications.

“Personally, I enjoy him. I enjoy him more now that I understand him. It took me a long time to understand living life on emotion, and Tommy is the type of guy who lives on emotion.

“I am very logical, and I had no vehicle with which to understand. But with some marital counseling I went through, I found that my wife is a lot like that (emotional). I can understand that (personality). I can enjoy anything I understand.

“The only thing that matters in all this is that we are headed in the same direction. And we are.”

Sutton, whose 1-year contract features a base salary of $350,000 and loads of performance incentives, doesn’t know how long this harmonious player-coach relationship with Lasorda will last.

Ever the corporate type, Sutton says the main loyalty in baseball is to the profit margin.

“We who play and some who sit in the stands and watch sometimes miss the point,” Sutton said. “The point is that, regardless of how emotionally involved we get, it’s still only a business. It has to be run with sound business practices, like anything else. It’s not Sunday afternoon at church after a picnic, when you grab the knob of the bat and choose up sides.”