Cecil Dean Butler (October 23, 1937 – October 2, 2019) was American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. The right-hander worked in 11

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

, including two starting assignments, for the

Milwaukee Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bost ...

in 1962 and 1964. Nicknamed "Slewfoot," he was born in Dallas, Georgia, stood tall and weighed . Butler's professional baseball career lasted for nine seasons (1957–65), all in the Braves' organization. He won a spot on the 1962 Milwaukee roster out of

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

and in his second MLB appearance, he worked 4

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

of three-hit relief on April 28 against the newly formed Houston Colt .45s at Colt Stadium. His scoreless effort netted him his first big-league win, as the Braves rallied from a 3–2 deficit to come back and prevail, 9–3. Fifteen days later, he started against the National League's other

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

, the New York Mets, at the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...

, and threw a six-hit,

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

victory, 3–2. But after another start on May 19, he suffered a severe elbow injury, and was very slow to recover. Butler made two appearances with the Braves over the final four months of 1962, spent 1963 in the minor leagues, and then got into two more games for Milwaukee in July 1964, but was ineffective. He retired after the 1965 season due to his injury. In his 11 MLB games, Butler allowed 33 hits and nine

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

in 35 innings pitched, with 24

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s. He finished with a 2–0

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

and a 3.31 earned run average. Butler died at his home on October 2, 2019, in Dallas, Georgia.

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1937 births 2019 deaths Atlanta Crackers players Austin Braves players Austin Senators players Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Denver Bears players Jacksonville Braves players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Midland Braves players Milwaukee Braves players Panama City Fliers players People from Dallas, Georgia Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Waycross Braves players Sportspeople from Paulding County, Georgia {{US-baseball-pitcher-1930s-stub