After retiring as a player, Gary Sutherland served the game for decades as a scout. It was in that capacity with the Dodgers that Sutherland wrote this report about a 20-year old pitcher named Pedro Martinez. Dated four months before his debut, the report gives him a prospect key rank of 5, “ML starter or quality reliever”. Foreshadowing Martinez’ swashbuckling style, Sutherland writes, “Spots FB well & will come inside — has a very effective change up and will throw it at any time”.

Gary Sutherland played more than 1,000 big league games from 1966-1978. Notably he scored the first run in Montreal Expos franchise history and recorded the first putout in a regular-season game played in Canada. Upon his retirement, Sutherland became a scout for the Padres and Dodgers and later an assistant to the general manager with the Angels. Here he writes about an exchange with future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

It’s a long road from college to the Major Leagues. Tony Gwynn’s started after the Padres drafted him in the 3rd round of the 1981 draft. Present the whole way was San Diego scout Gary Sutherland. Here “Sudsy” recounts the earliest days of Gwynn’s road the greatness. In this letter the scout writes about contentious contract negotiations with Gwynn and his father. When asked what he felt was a fair signing bonus for his son the older Gwynn suggested $40,000. The Padres countered with $12,500. Sutherland goes on to reveal that the 15-time All Star eventually signed for $25,000. Sudsy was among Gwynn’s first professional coaches, guiding the young buck at Walla Walla, Washington. Sutherland writes of Gwynn thanking him more than a dozen years later. Sutherland himself spent 13 years in the big leagues as a player before embarking on a career as a scout and front office executive.

After the contract negotiations with Tony Gwynn and his father, young Tony reported to Walla Walla, Washington where Gary Sutherland was an instructor. Gwynn went on to lead the National League in batting eight times on his way to 3,141 hits and a Hall of Fame career. Shown here is his Topps rookie card adorned with a strong Tony Gwynn autograph.

The Dodgers sent scout Gary Sutherland to watch Mike Piazza and assess his readiness for the Major Leagues. Sutherland liked what he saw, reporting, “Making great progress – will develop into a good ML hitter w/above average power”. Sutherland goes on to praise the catcher but ends his report with, “Part of another season at 3A would probably help him.” Piazza began the next season not at Triple-A, but in the Major Leagues. He ended the season as the unanimous Rookie of the Year after posting a .318 average, 32 homers, and 112 RBI.

Gary Sutherland foresaw Mike Piazza’s greatness before the catcher even played a big league game. Only nine other players have ever had over 400 home runs with over a .300 lifetime average while never strikeout out more than 110 times in a season. Mike Piazza’s name is on that list next to the likes of Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Lou Gehrig, Mel Ott, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Vladimir Guerrero, Albert Pujols, and Chipper Jones.

The Major League Baseball Players Association sent out questionnaires like this one to its players to determine what endorsements each man had. Today’s players compliment their baseball salary with off field endorsement but that wasn’t always the case. This document filled out by Gary Sutherland on May 23, 1974 shows him to have no endorsements whatsoever.