John Butterfield (August 5, 1929 – November 16, 1979) was an American college baseball coach and professional baseball executive. Butterfield grew up in Westborough, Massachusetts and played college baseball for Maine in the early 1950s and later was the head coach at Maine and South Florida. In the late 1970s, he became an executive in the New York Yankees organization before he died in a car crash in November 1979.[2][3][4]
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 5, 1929 |
| Died | November 16, 1979 (aged 50) |
| Playing career | |
| 1951–1953 | Maine |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1956 | Maine (assistant) |
| 1957–1974 | Maine |
| 1975–1976 | South Florida |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 301–193–3 |
| Tournaments | 5–2 (NCAA) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| NCAA Regional (1964) 4 Yankee Conference (1964 – outright; 1960, 1966, 1970 – shared) 8 Maine State Series (1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1974 – outright; 1960, 1966, 1969 – shared) | |
| Awards | |
| 1964 NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year Maine Sports Hall of Fame[1] | |
Coaching career
editMaine
editButterfield's coaching career began at Maine in 1956, when he assisted head coach Walter Anderson and coached the school's junior varsity team. For the 1957 season, Butterfield was named the head coach. He held the position from 1957–1974 and compiled an overall record of 240-169-2.[2]
Maine's best season under Butterfield was 1964, when the team went 21-8 and won the Yankee Conference outright to qualify for the program's first NCAA tournament. In the best-of-three District 1 Regional held in Boston, Maine swept Northeastern in two games to advance to the College World Series. There, Maine won its opening game against Seton Hall, 5-1, before dropping its second to Minnesota, 12-0. In the loser's bracket, the Black Bears defeated Arizona State and USC but were eliminated by Missouri and finished third.[2] Butterfield was named NCAA Coach of the Year, and Joe Ferris was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.[5]
In Butterfield's 17 seasons at Maine, the team won eight Maine State Series (a competition between Maine, Bowdoin, Colby, and Bates) and shared three other Yankee Conference titles, but did not qualify for another NCAA tournament.[2]
Butterfield's players at Maine included Major Leaguers John Cumberland and Bert Roberge, college head coach Jack Leggett, baseball executive Bill Livesey, and New York Yankees manager Carl "Stump" Merrill. Butterfield coined Merrill's nickname during his freshman season in 1963.[2][6][7][8]
South Florida
editFollowing the 1974 season, Butterfield left Maine to become the head coach at South Florida (USF), in part due to tension with Maine's administration over the program's funding. He coached at USF for two seasons (1975–1976) and had an overall record of 61-24-1. At USF, future Toronto Blue Jays manager Carlos Tosca was Butterfield's equipment manager.[3][9][10][11]
Head coaching record
editBelow is a table of Butterfield's yearly records as a collegiate head baseball coach.[2][9]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maine Black Bears (Yankee Conference) (1957–1974) | |||||||||
| 1957 | Maine | 6–14 | 3–5 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1958 | Maine | 12–9 | 5–3 | 3rd | |||||
| 1959 | Maine | 12–8 | 7–3 | 2nd | |||||
| 1960 | Maine | 12–8 | 8–2 | T–1st | |||||
| 1961 | Maine | 9–13–1 | 2–6–1 | 5th | |||||
| 1962 | Maine | 9–14 | 5–5 | 3rd | |||||
| 1963 | Maine | 9–12 | 4–5 | 4th | |||||
| 1964 | Maine | 21–8 | 8–2 | 1st | College World Series | ||||
| 1965 | Maine | 14–7 | 6–4 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1966 | Maine | 15–9–1 | 7–3 | T–1st | |||||
| 1967 | Maine | 15–7 | 5–5 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1968 | Maine | 10–9 | 3–7 | T–4th | |||||
| 1969 | Maine | 12–12 | 6–4 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1970 | Maine | 18–6 | 8–2 | T–1st | |||||
| 1971 | Maine | 16–12 | 6–9 | 3rd | |||||
| 1972 | Maine | 20–7 | 8–4 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1973 | Maine | 15–9 | 4–4 | 3rd | |||||
| 1974 | Maine | 15–5 | 4–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| Maine: | 240–169–2 | 99–76–1 | |||||||
| South Florida Bulls (1975–1976) | |||||||||
| 1975 | South Florida | 29–12 | |||||||
| 1976 | South Florida | 32–12–1 | |||||||
| South Florida: | 61–24–1 | ||||||||
| Total: | 301–193–3 | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
Professional baseball
editIn 1976, Butterfield left USF at the request of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to become a scout for New York. The following year, he was named the organization's Director of Player Development and Scouting, a position he served in for the next three seasons.[3][12][13]
Death
editEarly on November 16, 1979, Butterfield was killed in a car crash in Paramus, New Jersey. His car crashed into a street sweeper stopped on the side of road. Steinbrenner said of his death: "The magnitude of our loss cannot be expressed in words. He was the epitome of what you'd look for in a teacher of young men."[3][4]
Personal
editFamily
editButterfield's son, Brian, played for him at Maine for one season and is currently a Major League Baseball coach for the Los Angeles Angels. Brian has also spent time as a coach with the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox and in the Yankees and Diamondbacks minor league systems.[14][15][16] Butterfield's brother, Jim, assisted him at Maine from 1957–1959 and later became the head football coach at Ithaca. Jim was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.[2][17]
Awards named after
editFollowing Butterfield's death in 1979, two awards were named for him. At Maine, the Jack Butterfield Memorial Scholarship is given to baseball players who "have demonstrated academic proficiency, athletic leadership and the high ideals and standards" of Butterfield. Past recipients include Major Leaguers Mike Bordick, Mark Sweeney, Bill Swift, and Larry Thomas.[18] Also, the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) gives the Jack Butterfield Award to a coach who exhibits "integrity and dedication to the game." Past recipients include Maine's John Winkin, Vermont's Bill Currier, and Northeastern's Neil McPhee.[19][20][21]
References
edit- ^ "Maine Sports Figures Honores". SeacoastOnline.com. Associated Press. June 1, 2009. Archived from the original on June 8, 2009. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Baseball" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 22, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
- ^ a b c d Johnston, Joey (June 2, 2009). "Wake-Up Call: Rays' Longoria Riding High". TBO.com. The Tampa Tribune. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ a b "Standout Maine Coach Killed in Auto Crash". Lewiston Journal. Lewiston, ME, USA. November 17, 1979. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Warner, Pete (May 16, 2014). "'The Darlings of the Tournament': UMaine's 1964 College World Series Team Returns to Orono for 50th Reunion". BangorDailyNews.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2014. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Traughber, Bill (May 9, 2011). "Looking Back: Former Sounds Manager Stump Merrill". MILB.com. Archived from the original on April 5, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ O'Connell, Jack (October 7, 1991). "Is It Over for Merrill?: Decision Likely Today". Courant.com. Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ "Alumni Profiles - Bill Livesey". UMaine.edu. Archived from the original on September 2, 2013. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ a b "USF Year-by-Year Records: 1970-1979". GoUSFBulls.com. USF Athletic Communications. Archived from the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Madden, Bill (June 9, 2002). "They Can Bank on Yanks". NYDailyNews.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Ferris, Joseph L. (October 13, 1987). "Maine Baseball Book a Sure Hit with Black Bear Fans". Bangor Daily News. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
- ^ Osborne, Owen (February 11, 1977). "Jack Butterfield Gets Top Yankee Job". Bangor Daily News. Bangor, ME, USA. p. 20. Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Roberts, Robin; Rogers III, Paul C. (2003). My Life in Baseball. Chicago: Triumph. ISBN 9781617494284.
Jack Butterfield had been the South Florida baseball coach, but George Steinbrenner had offered him a job with the Yankees organization in September.
- ^ Mahoney, Larry (November 23, 2012). "Orono's Brian Butterfield Excited to Coach with Red Sox". BangorDailyNews.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Thomas, Kevin (October 31, 2012). "Brian Butterfield: From Bat Boy to Big Leagues". PressHerald.com. Portland Press Herald. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ Appel, Marty (2012). Pinstripe Empire: The New York Yankees from Before the Babe to After the Boss (1st ed.). New York: Bloomsbury USA. p. 443. ISBN 9781608194926.
- ^ Fleischman, Tom (November 28, 2002). "Legendary Ithaca College Coach Dies". Enquirer.com. Ithaca Journal. Archived from the original on June 22, 2014. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ "University of Maine Foundation" (PDF). UMaine.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ "Jack Butterfield Award". NEIBA.org. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ "Bentley Baseball Coach/AD DeFelice Named Recipient of Jack Butterfield Award". Northeast10.org. May 28, 2004. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
- ^ "NEIBA, Team Awards and Captains for Baseball Announced". DartmouthSports.com. Dartmouth Athletics Communications. June 8, 2010. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2014.