Home run! The Reno Aces Ball Club is an unqualified success. All of Northern Nevada is talking about the new stadium, the team and the experience of having AAA baseball in downtown Reno. The baseball games have created an excitement and an environment that has to be called electric. The team pulled in over 100,000 fans to Aces Ballpark in just 16 games and has consistently ranked fourth and fifth in Pacific Coast League attendance. Perhaps no one is more cognizant of the team's impact to the community, or more appreciative of the opportunity to be playing ball in Reno than the Manager of the Aces, Brett Butler.
"It is an honor and a privilege for me. If you can't be in the big leagues there is not a better place to be than here. You have a city that embraces you. Reno has not had a team here since'47 and last night (Sunday, May 10) we had 8000 fans. The people here have welcomed us with open arms. That's exciting. When you have a brand new ball park and fans that love you — you go out there and try and play hard every single day. It is going to be a full year before the newness rubs off. This is a beautiful setting for us," Butler said.
Reno and Northern Nevada are very fortunate that Butler got the call to lead the team. There is probably no one more qualified in baseball to be the team's first skipper. Butler comes to the Aces' manager position after a successful 17 year career playing in the major leagues with the Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers. He played in the 1991 All-Star game and was a member of the Giants club that took the field during the calamitous 1989 World Series — made most memorable by the Loma Prieta earthquake that interrupted game three of the series. The Aces' new skipper also has experience coaching with the Diamondbacks in 2005, the Class A Lancaster Jethawks in 2006 and the AA Mobile Bay Bears in 2007. In his short management tenure many athletes from his dugout have made it to the big leagues, including current Diamondbacks Mark Reynolds, Justin Upton, Esmerling Vasquez, Josh Whitesell and the Florida Marlins' Emilio Bonifacio.
Butler's playing and management experience gives the Aces players a solid resource in their quest to make it to the majors. But as often as guys go up to the big leagues, guys come down and it can be a roller coaster for everyone on the team. Butler says that being a manager is like being part psychologist. "You have to deal with a lot of emotions," he said. Butler explains that going through the minor leagues is like a process. The rookie A and AA clubs are where players develop. At the AAA level the players continue development to a small degree, but the game becomes more about winning than development as the young men try to break into the bigs. "You try to get the guys equipped and ready to help the major league club," Butler said.
The Aces' skipper puts a lot of stock in getting his guys ready for the call up to the majors and in getting his guys ready for life. "Preparation means opportunity. If the guys are prepared, when the opportunity presents itself, then they will be winning players. But to be honest, I am more concerned about a player's character and integrity than their baseball. Their baseball will take care of itself. They will only be a baseball player a short time, but they will be a man, father, a husband for the rest of their lives so to me character, integrity, how to deal with failure — all that is very important," Butler said.
Baseball fans love statistics and statistics can tell a lot about a player — especially if comparable to some of the game's greats. Butler has an incredible array of statistics that say much about his longevity, batting, running, fielding skills and place in baseball history. Butler played in 2,213 games (120th all-time), logged 2,375 hits (115th all-time), scored 1,359 runs (96th all-time), made 9,545 plate appearances (100th all-time), knocked 131 triples (tied with Joe DiMaggio at 78th all-time), and received 1129 walks (tied with Cal Ripken, Jr. at 68th all-time).
Butler was probably one of the greatest leadoff hitters of the 1980s and 1990s. His career on-base percentage was .377. He had a career batting average of .290. He has a MLB-leading 226 bunts for hits with a success rate of .511. In 1992 he had a record 40 bunts for base hits, a single season record. In a testament to his talent with a glove, Butler recorded a career .992 fielding percentage with only 41 errors in his 17 seasons. Butler even ran the bases well throughout his career, stealing 558 bases (24th all-time).
Throughout the early portion of the season, the team, like its leader, played aggressively. The Aces have been at the top of the Pacific Coast League in many stats that reflect Butler's past skills and accomplishments. The team does consistently well in hits, doubles, bases on balls, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and batting average.
The venerable left fielder was the total baseball player and more. Butler won several awards for his outstanding personal strengths. In 1996 he was awarded the Branch Rickey Award in recognition of his community service. It was the same year he was given the Lou Gehrig Award in recognition of the uncompromising character and integrity that he displayed on and off the field. In the spring of that year Butler was diagnosed with cancer, but that did not keep him out of the game for long. He was back on the lineup card later in the fall of the same season.
The experience that Butler has gained throughout the years has given him many lessons and key points about what is important in baseball and life. "Communication to me is the key. When you are managing a ball club and coaching you have to have open lines of communication. Once you have that, then I tell the players don't have any regrets. Get ready, play hard. An opportunity is going to present itself. If you are prepared when the opportunity presents itself you will capitalize on it and you will play in the big leagues. Have no regrets whether you make it or you don't. When you walk away from the game be able to say, 'I did everything I possibly could there was nothing more I could do.' If you make it you can be satisfied. If you don't, then you can be content," Butler said.
Today, many feel that unless a young athlete goes to the proper camps and schools, that a player cannot compete or make it to the big leagues. Butler, who came from a small town and played baseball for a small college, thinks success largely comes from attitude. "If you don't believe in yourself nobody else will. Guys get drafted in the first round, the fifth round or the fiftieth round. You have Dusty Baker (1967 26th round), Mike Piazza (1988 62nd round). I was drafted in the twenty-third round for a thousand bucks. You know what, the bottom line is they (scouts) might be able to gauge a little bit on a guy's talent, but a lot of times you can't gauge a guy's heart. There are a lot of guys who have made it, like Tim Lincecum for the Giants. He looked like just a skinny kid but he goes out and wins the Cy Young award. You just never know, but that's what makes it so great," Butler said.
Given that Reno was the original small town with big ideas captured by its motto of "The Biggest Little City in the World," it is only fitting that the town now sports a baseball team with a manager who had big dreams and made it as a major leaguer whose main ambition now is to have his young team win and have his players make it to the big leagues.