Butler’s Final Days

Brett Butler beat the odds to reach the big leagues and beat cancer to stay there. Now, it’s nearly time for him to leave, something he’s getting to do on his own terms.

He has just one more wish--a championship.

“That would be a bow on top of the package, icing on top of the cake, the perfect ending,” Butler said.

Butler and the Dodgers are battling the San Francisco Giants for the NL West title. Butler has played in one World Series--with the Giants in 1989, but they were swept by the Oakland Athletics.

When he decided to return for one final year with the Dodgers, Butler pointed to former New York Yankees star Don Mattingly as a big reason.

Mattingly, who never played for a championship team, retired after the 1995 season. A year later, the Yankees won the World Series.

The 40-year-old Butler will be the first to say he’s had a wonderful time playing baseball, and has a lot to be thankful for in his life, especially his wife and four children.

But he’s also faced tragedy in the last two years.

During the 1995 season, Butler’s mother died of cancer. And last year a cancerous tumor was discovered in his tonsils. He underwent surgery followed by grueling radiation treatments.

Butler made a dramatic return to the Dodgers four months after the cancer was discovered, only to break his hand in his fifth game back when he was hit by a pitch.

The injury cut his season short, and he decided he didn’t want to end his career that way.

His final season has also been rough. He tore cartilage in his left shoulder making a throw in April, and tore cartilage in his right shoulder trying to make a catch in June.

There have also been other aches and pains, along with no saliva--a result of the radiation treatments. He keeps a water bottle handy at all times.

“In the last two years . . . ,” Butler said, his voice trailing off. “In the first 15, all I had was a broken finger.”

There’s also a matter of his playing time as his career winds down. Butler opened the season as the everyday center fielder and leadoff hitter. Lately, he’s spent more and more time on the bench.

When he has played in recent weeks, it’s been in left field, and he’s batted eighth, not first or second.

“It’s been bittersweet,” he said. “Not to play every day has been hard.”

So Butler has no second thoughts about retirement?

“None at all, it’s absolute,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it. With all the stuff, the focus is starting to diminish. I’m going to leave everything on the field.”

In a way, he already has. When asked how close he was to 100% physically, Butler hesitated before saying, “Let’s just say I’m not 100%.”

Yet he’s contributed, hitting close to .300, stealing a base here and there, and at times coming up with a fine catch or strong throw.

“He’s been a big inspiration here,” Dodgers manager Bill Russell said. “His experience, his knowledge of the game, you just can’t place a value on that.”

Butler will retire as one of the game’s finest leadoff hitters and bunters. The swift lefty has nearly 2,400 hits, a career batting average above .290 and more than 550 stolen bases.

All this from a slight 5-foot-10, 160-pounder who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Growing up, he was more concerned about making the high school team in Libertyville, Ill., than thinking about the majors. Yet he went on to become a two-time All-American at Southeastern Oklahoma State, and the Atlanta Braves selected him in the 23rd round of the 1979 free-agent draft. He also played for the Cleveland Indians and New York Mets.

“He’s somebody that comes to do his job,” said future Hall of Famer Eddie Murray, who played with Butler and the Dodgers in 1991 and rejoined the team earlier this month. “He takes his job seriously, and has fun doing it. I think that has something to do with the success he’s had.”

Butler said he has been more successful than he ever hoped.

“It went so fast, it was here and gone,” he said wistfully. “I’m retiring to slow down those (upcoming) years and be with my family. . . .

“My priorities are God first, my family second, the game third. I’ll do nothing and be awfully good at it. I’ll saturate myself in my children’s lives.”

Butler said he has only two regrets: that he’s never won a World Series, something that could change this year, and that he’s never won a Gold Glove.

Shortstop Greg Gagne, a teammate who might also retire at season’s end, played with two World Series champions--the Minnesota Twins of 1987 and 1991.

“That’s probably the biggest thing you can do in this game,” Gagne said. “I’ve never won a Gold Glove, I’ve never been on an All-Star team. To (win the World Series) a couple times, there was a lot of joy, a lot of satisfaction. You want to be the best. I think it would be a great way to go out.”

For Butler, there could be no better way. He spells it all out in his book, “Field of Hopes,” which was released last month.

“I wrote it for the little guy, the ugly duckling, the last person chosen,” he said. “I wrote it for the cancer patient.”