Since he wasn't really a "pee wee," was he a marbles champion like the famous shortstop of the Dodgers?

Since he wasn't really a "pee wee,"

5'9" 145-lb

That's almost "pee-wee" as far as baseball goes.

That's almost "pee-wee" as far as baseball goes.

5'9" wasn't short back then, though he was skinny. He should have been called Boney Butts. :-)

...and I wont even mention his brother Seymour. :-D

Tommy Butts played three seasons in Puerto Rico; one with Mayaguez 1944-45 (.237), and two with Santurce; 1948-49 (.324)and 1949-50 (.221).

In 1948-49 he was 4th in hits with 104 behind Artie Wilson (126), Wilmer Fields (108) and Luis Marquez (104).

Here's my initial stab at translating Butts. This assumes he played at least a part-time role throughout his career. In fact, I don't think he would have, and given how anemic his bat is, he may not have stayed in MLB half as long as this projection suggests.


YEAR LG AGE POS AVG OBP SLG G PA AB H TB BB OPS+ SFWS
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1938 NL 19 SS .333 .387 .395 46 191 176 59 69 15 115 8.3
1939 NL 20 SS .359 .416 .375 154 642 585 210 219 57 114 28.6
1940 NL 21 SS .322 .376 .363 81 333 307 99 111 26 105 12.7
1941 NL 22 SS .162 .200 .167 117 468 446 72 75 22 4 1.1
1942 NL 23 SS .203 .251 .223 128 519 488 99 109 32 39 5.4
1943 NL 24 SS .217 .264 .250 137 554 520 113 130 34 49 7.7
1944 NL 25 SS .271 .323 .315 154 631 585 159 184 45 80 16.6
1945 NL 26 SS .268 .321 .303 154 631 585 157 178 46 74 15.7
1946 NL 27 SS .266 .318 .335 151 616 573 152 192 43 85 17.0
1947 NL 28 SS .270 .328 .314 143 592 544 147 171 47 71 15.6
1948 NL 29 SS .261 .319 .288 127 525 484 127 139 41 65 12.0
1949 NL 30 SS .230 .283 .272 132 537 500 115 136 37 49 9.4
1950 NL 31 SS .232 .287 .237 132 539 500 116 118 38 39 8.0
1951 NL 32 SS .243 .297 .253 130 534 496 120 126 38 50 9.3
1952 NL 33 SS .144 .180 .149 101 399 382 55 57 17 -8 -0.1
1953 NL 34 SS .210 .256 .218 132 532 500 105 109 31 25 5.6
1954 NL 35 SS .186 .228 .178 71 283 268 50 48 15 10 1.5
1955 NL 36 SS .226 .276 .209 60 244 228 51 47 16 33 2.8
====================================================================
total .245 .297 .272 2149 8768 8167 2005 2218 601 52 177.1
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This is a best-case scenario, and I assume that he was an A+ fielder with 6.55 WS per 1000 innings (or 1 for every 18 g played).

I wonder if those first few years are influenced by park or if Butts suffered some kind of career-altering injury in 1940. I don't know if his home park in Baltimore was tough on hitters, but after moving into it in 1940, he was not a good hitter at all. On the other hand, he didn't hit any where else either.

I'll post the data I have for him in just a moment.

Given this translation, he looks like Reese...Pokey Reese.

Actually, rather than my posting data that's already been posted, check out the scan of Butts's stats that KJOK posted on the yahoo groups page. I filled in missing gaps by using career averages.

From April 17,1948 Baltimore Afro-American article:

"...others who played in the Cuban League were Tomas (Pee Wee) Butts, 29 year-old short stop, and James (Junior) Gilliam, 19 year-old Nashville second baseman. Butts and Gilliam rate as the hottest keystone combination in colored baseball today, and are certain to execute plenty of double plays for the Elites.

Typical of the high praise tossed in Pee Wee's direction was the statement of Mike Gonzales, the old St. Louis Cardinal coach who now works in the Cuban League. Gonzales said that Butts is the 'best I've ever seen' and the old National Leaguer has seen most of the top flight performers."

As with Dandridge, I wanted to check and see whether Butts's NgL home parks had any dampening effect on his hitting numbers.

|(DIMENSIONS | (FENCES
| IN FEET) | IN FEET)
YEAR TM PARK | LF LC CF RF | LF LC CF RF
-------------------------------------------------------
1938 ATL Ponce De Leon 330 525 448 324 25 6 15*
1939 IND ?????????????
1939 BAL Oriole Park V 305 412 310 5 25 25**
1940 BAL Oriole Park V
1941 BAL Oriole Park V
1942 BAL Oriole Park V
1943 BAL Oriole Park V
1944a BAL Oriole Park V
1944b BAL Venable Stdm 270 406
1945 BAL Venable Stdm
1946 BAL Venable Stdm
1947 BAL Venable Stdm
1948 BAL Venable Stdm
1949 BAL Venable Stdm 291 291
1950 BAL Westport Stdm
1951 BAL Westport Stdm
1952 BIR Richmond Fld*+ 405 470 334 5 35 15 15
1954 MEM ????????
======================================================
*RC had a 35' Magnolia tree in play instead of a fence.
**76' to backstop.
*+Patterned almost exactly after Forbes Field.
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