Major league dad
Baseball comes second to family, daughter says
By Brent Yarina
Staff Reporter

While players and coaches are reporting to spring training for the 2003 season, many baseball families are forced to prepare for seven months of separation.

For Shelby Sutcliffe, a sophomore chemistry major, this was never the case.

Sutcliffe, the daughter of four-time all-star pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, said her family never experienced being separated from each other, despite her father playing 18 seasons in the major leagues. Instead, she said spring training marked the beginning of changing schools, traveling and attending baseball games as a family.

During her father’s career, Shelby Sutcliffe said her family managed to stay together by calling Missouri home during the offseason and then moving to whatever city her father played in for the remainder of the year. She said whether her father played in Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore or St. Louis, the family followed him to that city.

“He is my best friend in the world,” Shelby Sutcliffe said. “He is an incredible father and he has always been there for me.”

Shelby Sutcliffe said her dad always made his family his first priority.

“Every year, he would miss a game for my birthday, which was unheard of in his profession,” she said. “Because of this, our family couldn’t be closer.”

Rick Sutcliffe said he always put his family above his career. He said he attended every one of his daughter’s high school golf tournaments to be as supportive as she was of his career.

“I got a lot more nervous watching her play than when I played,” Rick Sutcliffe said.

Shelby Sutcliffe said her father valued his time with the family so much that he would hire tutors or excuse her from school so she could attend day games.

“He took me to everything he went to,” she said. “At first I had to learn to love sports, but now it’s in my blood.”

Shelby Sutcliffe said her father had no problem taking her out of school because she never suffered academically, and he viewed their time together as the single most important element.

“There were definite drawbacks with friends as a result of me traveling with my father, but friends come and go all the time, and my family is the one consistent thing I have in my life,” Shelby Sutcliffe said. “I value this because it isn’t this way for too many professional baseball players and their families.”

Rick Sutcliffe said he credits Shelby’s “tremendous focus” to her ability to adjust to the numerous changes involved with moving.

“She accomplishes everything she sets out for,” Rick Sutcliffe said. “Being Rick Sutcliffe’s daughter means nothing to her. She’s determined to accomplish stuff on her own.”

Ashley Chamberlain, a sophomore early childhood education major, said she has known the Sutcliffe family since she was in kindergarten. In that time, she said she has witnessed how the family members love and care for one another.

“Shelby is definitely a daddy’s girl,” Chamberlain said. “They talk all the time and love spending time together.”

Rick Sutcliffe said he retired from baseball after the 1994 season because he felt his family had made enough sacrifices for him and did not want to move anymore.

“I walked away from a two-year deal with the Texas Rangers because I felt it was time to be a dad,” Rick Sutcliffe said. “To this day, I consider that the best decision I have ever made.”

Since retiring Rick Sutcliffe said he is remaining active in baseball by providing color commentary for ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball.

Brent Yarina