advertisement

Former classmate reminisces on Butler's baseball career

• The following is part of an ongoing series of articles in celebration of Libertyville High School's 100th anniversary.

Part 2 of 2

With his senior year at LHS winding down, Brett Butler decided he was going to attend and play baseball at Arizona State University, the top college baseball program at the time. He had a dream of playing major league baseball and felt going to Arizona State would be the best place for his next step in that dream.

Although he didn't make the ASU varsity team, he did make the JV team and got a lot of experience. The next time I saw him play was in the Shoreline Summer League playing for the Zion Dill Brothers. I joined his team three weeks into the season. As we drove to our first game together at Waukegan, Brett told me he was hitting .600 with, I forget, how many extra base hits.

I was somewhat skeptical until the first pitch of the game when Brett hit one so far over the right fielder's head that it bounced off the washrooms at Weiss Field. Perhaps he could have circled the bases twice if he tried, but he was too busy laughing going around them the first time. He proceeded to go 5-for-5 that night. He was a completely new guy from a year ago.

After clearly being the top player in the Shoreline League, a Lake Forest player playing for Southeastern Oklahoma State University called his coach and said they should get this dynamite center fielder. The coach took him at his word and offered Brett a scholarship sight unseen.

Brett became a two-time National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics All-American at SOSU. He was drafted in the 23rd round by the Atlanta Braves in 1979. Once Brett got in the minor leagues, he hit everywhere he was at. In 1981, his third year in the minor leagues, the Braves brought him up late in the season. He spent the majority of the 1982 season with the Braves, and was up for good by 1983, starting most of the games in left field.

He played 17 years in the major leagues for the Braves, Indians, Giants, Dodgers and Mets, playing in the 1989 World Series for the Giants, making the 1991 All-Star Game for the Dodgers. After retiring from baseball, he spent several years as a minor league manager and was a base coach for the Diamondbacks and Marlins.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.