Don Sutton and Hall of Fame

The Baseball Hall of Fame belatedly has reached out to Don Sutton. Some of us saw qualities in him years ago that caused us to install him in a greater hall of fame based on character.

Years ago, while he was still with the Dodgers, I was being trained as a volunteer with Hospice of the Conejo, and I was asked to visit a 13-year-old boy, Kenny, who would soon die of a brain tumor.

I met Kenny in his hospital room while he had the World Series on his TV because I had heard he liked baseball. Also, I was afraid of this situation and wondered what I could say to him. His alcoholic father hadn’t visited him, and it was felt that Kenny needed a substitute father figure. In struggling to find something in common to talk about, we talked about his heroes on the Dodgers, who were not in the World Series this year. That wonderful kid was in awe of Steve Garvey, Don Sutton and several others.

Kenny’s last birthday was coming up in a few weeks and I wanted to do something special for this young friend I had known so briefly. Don Sutton was a golf member at North Ranch Country Club, so I called his home, talked to his wife and asked if Don would visit Kenny in Los Robles Hospital on his final birthday. Remarkably, Don visited Kenny, providing the best gift imaginable. It was surely Kenny’s final significant gift in this life because he died a little later.

That was when the Hospice of the Conejo volunteers put Don Sutton in the Hall of Fame.

ROBERT W. DINGMAN

Westlake Village