Nov. 15, 2021

By Bob Elliott

The press box at old Tiger Stadium was longer than most of the major league facilities in 1993.

So when we heard the news -- East York’s Rob Butler had been promoted from triple-A Syracuse Chiefs to the Toronto Blue Jays after a 6-1 loss to the Tigers -- we found a quiet place and called the home clubhouse at MacArthur Stadium in Syracuse and asked for Butler.

Butler was quite candid, a Canadian talking of his dreams of playing for his hometown Jays coming true. Butler said he had tears in his eyes as he walked down the right field line to the Chief clubhouse thinking of what he had accomplished.

The next night Butler started in left and led off the top of the ninth with a single to left off reliever Tom Bolton for his first hit in a 12-1 Detroit Tigers win.

We were at Talbot Park in Leaside one night after Butler singled in the first two games of a series in Minneapolis, both victories over the Twins. That night Oshawa and Leaside junior teams lined up on the foul lines as the PA announcer saluted “East York’s own ... Robbie Butler ... who had played on the same field with the same dream that the players on these teams have.”

We were there in Game 5 of the World Series that year in Philadelphia when Butler followed Pat Borders lead-off single with a pinch-hit single to right off Phillies Curt Schilling, who four times in his career finished in the top five of Cy Young award voting. The Phillies ace rebounded getting Rickey Henderson on a grounder, striking out Devon White and retiring Robbie Alomar on a grounder to end the inning.

Schilling finished with a five-hit 2-0 shutout, forcing Game 6 at the SkyDome as the Jays rallied to win on Joe Carter’s three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth.

Butler appeared in 109 games with the Blue Jays and Phillies -- batting .243 -- in the majors, as well as batting .308 in the minors with class-A St. Catharines, class-A Dunedin, Syracuse, triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, triple-A New Orleans and double-A Knoxville.

Yet, he wasn’t done, playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs and being named one of the top 100 players in the 100-year history of the Intercounty League. Butler played six seasons, hitting .404 with 36 doubles, five triples, 42 homers and 129 RBIs in 125 games, slugging .738. He also slashed line drives for Canada wearing our country’s colors seven times, including the 1988 Olympic Games in South Korea.

His speech at the annual Baseball Canada banquet (on what it meant to play for Canada) is regarded as one of the most eloquent speeches ever given in the history of the banquet.

Then, he got into coaching the likes of Jerome Werniuk, who went on to pitch for St. John’s University and Ryan Kellogg, who pitched at Arizona State and is now in the Chicago Cubs organization. Even this year the top Canadian drafted -- infielder Tyler Black of Stouffville and his father Rod Black -- said this would not have been possible without the teachings and help of Rob and Rich Butler.