Born in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, Rutherford grew up in Detroit, Michigan, graduating from Mackenzie High School.

He pitched both as a starter and reliever for the pennant-winning 1952 Dodgers, making his Major League Baseball debut in relief against the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman's Park on April 30.

His first major league win came a week later, also in relief, in a 5–4 decision over the Cincinnati Reds at Ebbets Field.

He pitched an inning in Game # 4 and gave up a hit (a Mickey Mantle triple) and an earned run.

[2] With his baseball career shortened by shoulder problems, Rutherford followed his father's path to the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, Missouri, receiving his medical degree in 1962, interning at Riverside Hospital in Trenton, Michigan, and building his general practice in the Detroit suburb of River Rouge.