After eight months on the sidelines with a cruciate ligament injury, the 31-year-old midfielder enjoyed an impressive 45-minute spell, playing a part in his side's goal and showing an impressive level of fitness against a strong Spurs team.
With the likes of Gus Poyet, Stephen Carr, Les Ferdinand and Stephen Clemence making their own comebacks from injury for the visitors, a relatively inexperienced Hammers line-up were unlucky not to have gained all three points against their London rivals.
In a lively encounter at Dagenham & Redbridge's Victoria Road ground, both sides enjoyed a host of decent goalscoring opportunities but had to settle for a point after defender Izzie Iriekpen saw his first half opener cancelled out by an equaliser from Dean Marney.
Spurs had made the livelier start and pacy youngster Lee Barnard went close with two well-struck efforts in the opening eight minutes, but Hammers soon fought back to gain the upper hand and came closest to opening the scoring on 13 minutes when Laurent Courtois latched on to a Richard Garcia pass and saw his shot deflected just wide of the target.
From the resulting corner, 17-year-old central defender Elliott Ward, who performed admirably all evening, rose to plant a firm header against the post.
Just a minute later, Spurs were denied themselves by the woodwork, when Poyet's clever chip from 25 yards out beat Raimond Van der Gouw but crashed off the crossbar and was cleared to safety.
Ferdinand and Carr then went close for the visitors, while the energetic Brent Rahim had a fierce effort blocked by Spurs keeper Burch as the first half developed into an entertaining, end-to-end affair.
The breakthrough for Roger Cross' men arrived in the 25th minute, when, after another excellent effort from Rahim was tipped round by Burch, the corner from Courtois was nodded down by Hutchison and hooked home on the turn by Iriekpen.
Sadly, the lead lasted only nine minutes. The Hammers defence failed to properly clear a dangerous cross from Carr, and young defender Marney was in the right place at the right time to volley past Van der Gouw.
On the stroke of half-time, Hammers were denied a chance to restore their advantage when French striker Youssef Sofiane raced through on goal and was brought down by a late challenge from Henry just inside the penalty area, but referee Deadman inexplicably waved play-on.
Hutchison was replaced at half-time and the second half - not surprisingly - didn't continue in the same high tempo and frenetic pace that had been enjoyed by the crowd throughout the first 45 minutes.
However, Garcia, Billy Mehmet and Shaun Byrne all saw speculative efforts fail to trouble Burch, while Rahim was left wondering what he had to do in order to score after the young Spurs keeper amazingly kept out his dipping volley from 25 yards out that seemed destined for the top corner.
Poyet went closest for Spurs with a low shot that flew just past the post in the 72nd minute, before the game exploded into life again in the closing minutes as tempers flared and the visitors were reduced to 10 men - yet still almost snatched a victory.
Spurs forward Jamie Slabber, on as a half-time substitute for Ferdinand, was shown a straight red card in the 83rd minute after the linesman saw him lash out at Vladimir Labant in an off-the-ball incident. South American midfielder Bortolozzo was then booked for a nasty tackle on Rahim, before Ward was also shown a yellow card for a late tackle on Barnard.
Despite their one-man disadvantage, though, it was Spurs who nearly grabbed all three points, when substitute Snee raced clear but was denied by a splendid save from Van der Gouw as he tried to clip the ball over the Dutch keeper.
Hammers: Van der Gouw, Byrne, Ward, Iriekpen, Labant, Hutchison
(Britton 46), Garcia (Ferdinand 84), Rahim, Courtois (McMahon 84),
Sofiane, Mehmet. Subs unused: Forde, Allen, Khan.
Spurs: Burch, Carr, Henry, Kelly, Marney, Bortolozzo, Clemence
(Snee 63), Poyet (Black 80), Ricketts, Ferdinand (Slabber 46),
Barnard. Subs unused: Rutherford, Foster.