Gary Sutherland was never a star baseball player, but he played a significant role in the history of the Montreal Expos franchise.
Sutherland, who died on Dec. 16 at age 80, was a 24-year-old infielder for the Philadelphia Phillies when the Expos selected him in the eighth round of the 1968 expansion draft. As the Expos’ starting second baseman in their inaugural game in April 1969, he reached base on an error and scored the first run in team history.
Sutherland would go on to a 13-year playing career with the Phillies, Expos, Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres. After retiring, he scouted for several MLB teams and was a special assistant to the general manager for the Los Angeles Angels.
Sutherland came from a baseball family. His father, Ralph, pitched briefly in the minor leagues. His older brother, Darrell, pitched parts of four MLB seasons for the New York Mets and Cleveland Indians. Another brother, Dale, had a long career as a major league scout.
Gary Sutherland was an infielder for the University of Southern California under head coach Rod Dedeaux when he was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in Nov. 1964. Two years later, he made his major league debut.
From 1966-68, Sutherland appeared in 173 games for the Phillies under manager Gene Mauch. When Mauch was hired to manage the expansion Montreal Expos prior to the 1969 season, an expansion draft was needed to fill out the team’s inaugural roster.
On Oct. 14, 1968, the Expos and San Diego Padres held a 60-round draft in which they selected players from the rosters of the other National League teams. Sutherland went in the eighth round to the Expos, reuniting him with Mauch, who made him the inaugural Opening Day second baseman.
Montreal beat the eventual champion New York Mets, 11-10, in their first-ever regular season game, with Sutherland’s historic run marking the difference. But the Expos won only 52 games that season, and Sutherland hit a mere .239 with three home runs and a .289 on-base percentage in 141 games.
Sutherland saw his role diminish in the Expos’ plans each of the next two years. In June 1972, he was traded to the Houston Astros, setting him on a journeyman’s path of five teams over the next seven seasons.
A reputation for steady glovework kept Sutherland in the lineup. His playing career ended with the St. Louis Cardinals when he was released in May 1978 after appearing in only eight games that season.
Sutherland returned home to California and two years later joined the San Diego Padres’ scouting department. Working the region for amateur talent, he played a role in the scouting and signing of a two-sport star at Long Beach State named Tony Gwynn.
Gwynn would go on to play more games in franchise history than any Padre during his Hall of Fame career.
In 1982, Sutherland joined the Cleveland organization as an area supervisor for California and the Southwest. In 1990, he began work as a pro scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Sutherland later spent 12 years as a special assistant to the general manager for the Los Angeles Angels (1999-2011), coinciding with the team’s first and only World Series championship in 2002.