Born in Pittsburg, Kansas, Gutteridge was a first cousin of MLB catcherRay Mueller. He threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) tall and weighed 160 pounds (73 kg). After entering pro ball in 1932, Gutteridge played his first game for the Cardinals at age 24, and in only his fifth career major league game hit two home runs in the first game of a doubleheader on September 11, 1936, including an inside-the-park home run and one steal of home plate. Over the course of his career, he was an average hitter with excellent speed and fielding ability; he turned five double plays in a game in 1944 during the Browns' long pennant-winning season. Gutteridge was sold to the Red Sox in 1946, where he played in his only other World Series. His MLB playing career ended after only two games with the Pirates in 1948.
Before his contract obtained by the Red Sox on July 9, 1946, Gutteridge had been the player-manager of the Browns' top farm club, the Toledo Mud Hens of the Triple-AAmerican Association. He resumed his managerial career in 1951, then coached for the White Sox for over a decade (1955–1966 and 1968–1969), including the 1959 pennant-winning team. In 1969, he succeeded Al López as manager on May 3. He led Chicago to a fifth-place finish in the AL West that season. With the White Sox record a major league-worst 49–87, Gutteridge requested and was granted a release from his contract on September 2, 1970, after being informed by general managerStu Holcomb that he would not be retained for 1971.[1] He was succeeded on an interim basis by Bill Adair.[2] Gutteridge's record over those two partial seasons was 109–172 (.388).
Don Gutteridge died on September 7, 2008, in his hometown of Pittsburg after contracting pneumonia.[3] At the time of his death, Gutteridge was the oldest living former manager or coach in Major League Baseball. He was also the last living member of the St. Louis Browns who played in the 1944 World Series—the franchise's only Fall Classic.
