Brian Butterfield

Brian James Butterfield

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 200 lb.
• School Valencia Community College, University of Maine, Florida Southern College

• Born March 9, 1958 in Bangor, ME USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

The son of late New York Yankees executive Jack Butterfield, Brian Butterfield played at three schools during his college career. A second baseman, he signed with the Yankees organization in 1979. Originally a right-handed hitter only, he made himself into a switch-hitter. He hit .218/~.203/.235 for the Oneonta Yankees in his first year. In 1980, Brian went 2 for 16 with four walks for the Fort Lauderdale Yankees and .227/~.344/.254 with the Greensboro Hornets. He returned to Fort Lauderdale in 1981 for a .286 season, then hit .259 for them in 1982 and .133 in a brief appearance with the Nashville Sounds. He also briefly reached the AAA level in 1982, hitting .417 in 13 games with the Columbus Clippers. The following year, his final season as a player, he played in the San Diego Padres farm system. He was used by the 1983 Miami Marlins as a utility infielder, hitting .238/~.367/.283.

Butterfield began a coaching career while still an active player. He was an assistant coach for the Florida Southern College Moccasins in 1979 and Eckerd College Tritons in 1980-1981. Undoubtedly, these jobs were on a part-time basis. Butterfield started his full-time coaching career in 1984 as a roving infield instructor for the Yankees and then coached various clubs in the organization over the next three seasons. He was the hitting coach for the Fort Lauderdale Yankees in 1985 and the Columbus Clippers in 1986. Butterfield started 1987 as the first base coach for the Albany-Colonie Yankees before taking over hitting coach duties for the Oneonta Yankees on May 8th. He managed in the Yankees chain from 1988 to 1990 and in 1992, winning a Gulf Coast League championship and Manager-of-the-Year honors in 1988. In between the managing gigs, Butterfield was a roving minor league infield instructor in 1991. The Yankees promoted Butterfield to the major league staff in 1994 as their first base coach where he remained through the 1995 season.

In 1996, Butterfield accompanied former Yankees manager Buck Showalter when he moved to the fledgling Arizona Diamondbacks to help the organization develop a minor league system and prepare for the Expansion of 1998. Butterfield was the organization's Minor League Infield Instructor in 1996-1997. In the latter year, he also managed the AZL Diamondbacks until mid-July when he shifted his focus to scouting players in preparation for the expansion draft. Butterfield served as the third base coach for the big league team when it began to play, from 1998 to 2000. He rejoined the Yankees as a minor league manager in 2001, leading the Tampa Yankees to a league co-championship. He began 2002 as skipper of the Columbus Clippers before being dismissed on May 16th.

Less than a month later (June 3rd), he joined the Toronto Blue Jays as third base coach, replacing Carlos Tosca who was named manager. Tosca and Butterfield had previously worked together with the Diamondbacks. Butterfield would continue as the Blue Jays third base coach through 2012 with a two-year detour as bench coach in 2008 and 2009. During his Blue Jays tenure, Butterfield worked under managers Tosca, John Gibbons, Cito Gaston, and John Farrell. Infielder Orlando Hudson credited Butterfield with helping him win his first Gold Glove in 2005.

In 2013, Butterfield followed Farrell to the Boston Red Sox. He stayed as long as Farrell was the manager, until the end of the 2017 season, then moved to the Chicago Cubs in 2018, also as their third base coach. In Chicago, he worked for Joe Maddon, and when Maddon moved over to the Los Angeles Angels in 2020, Butterfield followed him as the team's third base coach. He left after the 2021 season. Butterfield was slated to become the New York Mets third base coach and infield instructor in 2022, but the job never materialized since Butterfield refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19.[1] This effectively ended Butterfield's coaching career.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1988	GCL Yankees	Gulf Coast League	45-18	1st	New York Yankees	League Champs
1989	Oneonta Yankees	New York-Penn League	48-27	2nd	New York Yankees
1990	Greensboro Hornets	South Atlantic League	59-85	5th	New York Yankees
1992	Fort Lauderdale Yankees	Florida State League	59-76	10th	New York Yankees
1997	AZL Diamondbacks	Arizona League	27-29	4th	Arizona Diamondbacks		shared position with Don Wakamatsu
2001	Tampa Yankees	Florida State League	77-62	1st	New York Yankees	League Co-Champs
2002	Columbus Clippers	International League	12-25	--	New York Yankees		Replaced by Frank Howard on May 16