Don Gutteridge

Born in Pittsburg in 1912, Don Gutteridge played at Pittsburg State and for town teams.  In 1932, the Brooklyn Dodgers signed him to a professional contract.  He was assigned to Class D Lincoln (NE).  In 1933, he led the Nebraska State League in hitting with a .360 average.

After the 1933 season, Branch Rickey bailed out the financially struggling league but was able to take the contracts of eight players.  Gutteridge was one of the eight players and broke in with the Cardinals in 1936.  This was toward the end of the “Gashouse Gang” era, but the Cardinals still had Leo Durocher, Joe Medwick, Pepper Martin, Frankie Frisch and the Dean brothers.

Gutteridge was the Cardinals’ regular third baseball in 1937-1939 and played in 69 games in 1940.  He would go to Sacramento in 1941 to play for Pepper Martin, who managed the team.

In 1942, Gutteridge returned to the major leagues with the St. Louis Browns.  He moved to second base and was the starter for four seasons.  He played in the 1944 all-St. Louis World Series, which was won by the Cardinals.

In 1946, he moved to Boston and again played on a pennant winner that lost the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.  Gutteridge’s final appearance in the major leagues was with Pittsburgh in 1948, for whom he played four games.  For his 12-year career, Gutteridge hit .256 with 1,075 hits.

From 1949-1951, Gutteridge was a player-coach for Indianapolis.  In 1952, he moved to the Chicago White Sox organization, managing in Class A Colorado Springs.  In 1955, he joined the White Sox as first base coach under Marty Marion and Al Lopez.  The 1959 “Go Go” Sox won the American League pennant, but lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 1968, Gutteridge was hired as head scout for the expansion Kansas City Royals, but returned to the White Sox shortly before the expansion draft.  Gutteridge was again a coach under Lopez, who returned as manager.  During the 1969 season, health problems forced Lopez to step down and Gutteridge was promoted to manager.  He led the White Sox until late in the 1970 season.

From 1971 to 1974, Gutteridge scouted for the New York Yankees, then for the Dodgers from 1975 to 1992.

Gutteridge and his life Helen were married for 74 years.  He died in Pittsburg in 2008 at the age of 96.  A youth baseball league in Pittsburg is the Don Gutteridge League and a baseball park is named in his honor.  

For more, read Don Gutteridge’s Society for American Baseball Research bio.