Issue #4, June 2013


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** Interview with Rick Sutcliffe  **
      (conducted by the Wolfman - Mr. Sutcliffe is an ex Major League Pitcher, works at ESPN now)

(Notes from the Wolfman: I met Mr. Sutcliffe on twitter, I sent him a tweet asking if he would be open to do an interview and he asked me to contact him via ESPN where he works as a sports announcer. A secretary at ESPN was my contact and submitted my questions to him. Mr. Sutcliffe becomes our second ex-major leaguer who has agreed to be interviewed. If any of our members knows of other current or former MLB players we can speak to, or who have played SOM Baseball, please feel free to contact us.)

Here we see Mr. Sutcliffe is in his broadcasting booth doing a ball game for ESPN

Wolfman:  Mr. Sutcliffe, when you were growing up did you always want to be a baseball player?

Rick Sutcliffe:  Actually, I didn’t. My dad was a racecar driver and early in my life, that’s what I wanted to be but it wasn’t long before I got to be too tall and fitting into a racecar wasn’t going to be an option, so that ended that.

Wolfman:  How did you begin to play baseball when you were younger?

Rick Sutcliffe: I didn’t really start until I was about nine. My parents were divorced and we moved in with our grandparents and that’s when the racecar driver idea went away and my grandpa gave me a baseball glove.

Wolfman:  As you found out that you had an ability to become a pitcher, was there a Major League pitcher you wanted to model your pitching style after?

Rick Sutcliffe:  I didn’t really want to be a pitcher. I wanted to be an everyday player. I just found that it was kind of boring when I first signed on to pitch every fifth day. I actually did play some first and third base in rookie ball but I found out real quick that I wasn’t very good at it so fortunately the pitching thing got better.

Wolfman:  So how did a scout from the LA Dodgers find you? What were you doing at the time?

Rick Sutcliffe:  I actually played in a tournament in Bartlesville, Oklahoma the first time I ever saw a scout. They were there to watch a guy by the name of George Frazier. I was like two years younger. After the game, as I found out later on, most of the scouts came up to talk to me instead of him. It was exciting.

Wolfman:  How does it compare to pitching in the minors vs. the majors? Is it more intense in the majors due to larger crowds and the higher salaries?

Rick Sutcliffe:  To me, there are three things that a pitcher has to go throw to succeed at the big league level. It starts with your command in the bullpen. You have to have control down there. Then when you add a hitter, sometimes things will change. Then, of course when you add the crowd. There’s adrenaline in that. Sometimes people don’t get over that. There are those three stages that you have to adjust to.

Wolfman:  How long did you spend in the minors?  Do you recall your first major league game you pitched in 1976?

Rick Sutcliffe: I was called up to the big leagues in 1976. I had just turned 20 years of age. It went well. I threw five innings of shutout baseball against Houston. The following year, they sent me back to Triple-A, I got hurt, hurt my shoulder. It wasn’t until – well, I was hurt almost all of ‘77. I came back and had a solid year in Triple-A in ‘78. I got a chance to make the club out of spring training in ‘79. I spent four and half years in the minor leagues. Honestly, I think I needed every bit of that time to completely develop. 

Wolfman:  According to the official statistics for your career you first big season occurred in 1979 when you started 30 games and pitched over 200 innings. What was that like?

Rick Sutcliffe:  Obviously the rookie year in 1979, I started in the bullpen. One of our starting pitchers got sick – he had the 24 hour flu and they gave me a chance to start that game. I actually threw a complete game against the Phillies and it took off. Because of that I got another start. It’s ironic that these guys today worry about the innings limit and pitch count, I threw 242 innings that year as a 22-year old, which they would never allow now and it wasn’t a problem. There was never any arm issues after that. 

Wolfman:  Also starting pitchers in those days would go with less rest between games and pitch longer compared to now - why has this changed in your opinion (now we are in the day of the closers)?

Rick Sutcliffe:  The big question is I don’t believe a quality start has any quality to it. If you only go six innings, that normally means three guys out of the 6 or 7 have to pitch that night as well. To me, a quality start, if I were to put a number, seven innings and two earned runs or less but this is something that is already there, it’s not going to change. I just don’t believe there is any quality to it. I would have believed that even when I was playing.

Wolfman:  On television, we see at times how the players get hyped when it’s a close game and one of your teammates does a fantastic play or has the winning hit to bring victory to your team - is there really a team energy and spirit amongst the players?  Is this the same whether your team is doing well or not? 

Rick Sutcliffe:  I do believe that there is a chemistry to the good teams. What I mean by that is they put together quality at bats. You can’t have any one guy in that lineup that’s selfish and only thinks about his stats. They are real obvious to see. Everybody has to buy in to helping us win this game. If it comes down to a bunt, first to third, taking out a guy at second on a double play, these are all little things that there may not be a stat for, but everybody in that dugout knows, and if there’s one guy that’s not doing it, that can become a serious problem.

Wolfman:  What was it like to be on the Chicago Cubs in 1984, when you won your division and had a chance to take the Cubs to the World Series? (Note: I had to ask Mr. Sutcliffe being that I grew up in Chicago and always have been a Cubs fan, I mean see the photo I use for the newsletter. Also it was interesting but in 1984, when the Cubs played the San Diego Padres for the National League Championship, I was living in San Diego at the time.)

Rick Sutcliffe:  Obviously it was amazing. I had been traded from Cleveland, we were not a very good team. Our stadium was empty most of the time. I walked into the clubhouse at Wrigley and there were great players there. We never played in front of an empty stadium. We fed off of their energy. It had been 40 years since they got to the playoffs. I will never forget, the most exciting part of that season was when we clinched. I pitched a complete game in Pittsburgh, after we celebrated, we went in the clubhouse, there wasn’t anything to do…the town was closed down. Arnie Harris, the producer for WGN took us out on the field, on the big screen there and he was able to put up a shot of what was going on back in Chicago at Wrigley. Hundreds of thousands of people celebrating. That’s when it really hit me that the team had done something that those fans had waited a long time for.  

Wolfman:  Did you like the fans in Chicago.  Was this the best team you had ever been on? 

Rick Sutcliffe:  For me, there’s nothing like it. They not only have you in their heads, but if you play the game right and play hard, you become part of their heart. And that to me is what is so special about that organization.

Wolfman:  As a starting pitcher primarily in your career, what kind of preparation did you need to have before you started? During the game, what was your key with your pitching to be successful - did you have a special pitch or natural ability that helped you?

Rick Sutcliffe:  The big thing, I ran a lot of distance as a starting pitcher. I thought if my legs ever got tired, I was in trouble. I always tried to make sure that never happened.

Wolfman:  How do you feel as an ex-Major League ballplayer that you have fans or gamers who are using a card that exactly represents your performance in the past seasons you played - or a computer card - and managing you as a player for either say a Dodger, Cub or Indian team you played for in the past? Or what about the idea that you are picked to be one of their starting pitchers in a draft league (in other words, your past performance come back to life in the baseball game called Strat-o-matic)?

Rick Sutcliffe:  Anything like Strat-O-Matic or the other games that inform people about our game and our players, I just think it’s all positive. You hope that kids playing games will encourage them to go out and play it on the field. 

Wolfman:  Did you wish to share something about your current job as a commentator?

Rick Sutcliffe:  It’s as close as I will ever come to playing the game again. Nothing for me will ever replace playing, I still have that passion in my mind in my heart and head, to go out there and play. I just lost the ability to prepare to play. I’ve had a lot of people toward the end of their career say, when do you now? When I found myself not able to get up in the morning and run 4-6 miles, that’s when I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to play anymore.

Broadcasting is the closest thing that there is to it. As a coach or a manager, you are stuck with the one team. The great thing about Monday Night Baseball, we try real hard to pick the best possible game, best teams, best pitchers. That’s the fun part. Already this year Matt Harvey, Strasburg -- to me these are some of the special things that our game has to offer.

Wolfman:  Lastly, if any of our members would like to contact you Mr. Sutcliffe, what is the best way to reach you?

Rick Sutcliffe:  They can contact me via my twitter account at: @Sut_ESPN 

Wolfman:  Thank you Mr. Sutcliffe for taking time to be interviewed and to give our members a chance to learn more about what it like to be an ex-major league ball player.  All the best.