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

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.