Thomas Lee "Pee Wee" Butts (August 27, 1919 – December 30, 1972) was an American baseball player who played in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

Early life

Thomas Lee "Pee Wee" Butts was born August 27, 1919 in

Sparta, Georgia Sparta is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Milledgeville Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 1,400 at the 2010 census. History Sparta was founded in 1795 in the new ...

, the birthplace of boxer Tommy "Hurricane" Jackson. He spent his childhood there and attended Washington High School. He played football and baseball for Washington High and was considered one of the best quarterbacks in the area.Holway, John. "Pee Wee Butts." ''Voices from the great Black baseball leagues''. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975. 327-338. Print. The name "Pee Wee" came from his stature. At 5'7" and 140 pounds after a big meal, Butts was one of the smallest players on record.

The beginning

At age 17, Butts quit high school and began playing baseball with the

Atlanta Black Crackers The Atlanta Black Crackers (originally known as the Atlanta Cubs and later briefly the Indianapolis ABCs) were a professional Negro league baseball team which played during the early to mid-20th century. They were primarily a minor Negro league ...

of the

Negro American League The Negro American League was one of the several Negro leagues created during the time organized American baseball was segregated. The league was established in 1937, and disbanded after its 1962 season. Negro American League franchises :''An ...

in 1936. Because of his youth, opposing players tried to intimidate Butts by sliding spikes up into him. Here he also learned to throw side arm to get batters out at first. The team moved to Indianapolis after Pee Wee's first two seasons and became known as the ABCs. In 1940, the

Baltimore Elite Giants The Baltimore Elite Giants were a professional baseball team that played in the Negro league baseball, Negro leagues from to . The team was established by Tom Wilson (Negro baseball), Thomas T. Wilson, in Nashville, Tennessee as the semi-pro Nash ...

of the Negro National League came to town to play the ABCs and offered Pee Wee a tryout after the game. Pee Wee was hesitant to leave home, but he figured the Black Crackers/ABCs team was breaking up, so he might as well.

The Baltimore Elite Giants

For nine seasons in Baltimore, Pee Wee was a .280 hitter and he developed a reputation as one of the finest fielders in the game."Pee Wee Butts." Pee Wee Butts. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. . He only hit 3

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

in nine seasons but made up for it in average and fielding ability. He often turned double plays with the help of

Junior Gilliam James William "Junior" Gilliam (October 17, 1928 – October 8, 1978) was an American second baseman, third baseman, and coach (baseball), coach in Negro league baseball, Negro league and Major League Baseball who spent his entire major league car ...

. It is said that Pee Wee coached Gilliam into the fine fielder that he became. Pee Wee had a problem with nerves at first. He was so nervous in his first game in Baltimore that he threw 3 balls into the stands. His manager, Felton Snow gave him the nickname "Cool breeze" to help him feel comfortable. In 1949, Baltimore won the pennant and the team fell apart financially. Gilliam went to Springfield, Massachusetts to try out for the Minor Leagues and Pee Wee knew he also would be moving on.

Puerto Rico

For several seasons, Butts played in the off season in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

in the late 1940s and early 1950s, after the Negro league season had commenced. In 1948, Butts hit .324 with the Santurce Crabbers.

End of career

When Gilliam left for the Dodgers, rather than have to start over with a new second baseman, Butts went to Canada to play for the Winnipeg Buffaloes of the Manitoba-Dakota League. Under manager Willie Wells, Butts batted .286 and the team won the pennant. Wells helped Pee Wee to tame his erratic arm by telling him to remain low after fielding so he would not have to rush his throws. One season in Canada was enough for Butts. He said it was too cold in Winnipeg and he went to

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

to play for the Class-A affiliate of the Philadelphia A's. Lincoln was none too kind to Pee Wee as he batted only .170 for the one season he was there. The organization wanted to send him to play for their Class B team, but Butts did not want to hold a roster spot from a young player who had a chance of moving up. He went back to the Negro leagues for two seasons before playing his final season in 1955 with the Texas City Texans of the Big State league."Thomas Butts Negro League Statistics & History
- Baseball-Reference.com." Baseball-Reference.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014..

Almost to the Big Leagues

Two teammates of Butts',

Jim Gilliam James William "Junior" Gilliam (October 17, 1928 – October 8, 1978) was an American second baseman, third baseman, and coach in Negro league and Major League Baseball who spent his entire major league career with the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dod ...

and

Roy Campanella Roy Campanella (November 19, 1921 – June 26, 1993), nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily as a catcher. The Philadelphia native played in the Negro leagues and Mexican League for nine years before entering the minor lea ...

, made it to the major leagues. Gilliam was not as good a player as Butts was, but he was younger. Butts' coaches thought he would make it big;; people compared him to

Phil Rizzuto Philip Francis Rizzuto (September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to th ...

. One Cuban pitcher who faced Butts when he played in Puerto Rico,

Dolf Luque Adolfo Domingo De Guzmán "Dolf" Luque (August 4, 1890 – July 3, 1957) was a Cuban starting pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to . Luque was enshrined in the Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame in 1957 and the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in ...

, even said that Butts could hit better than Rizzuto.

Retirement

After Pee Wee's final season in Texas, he said he just moped around for a year. He returned home to Atlanta and played in an old timer's game in 1969. He went to visit

after his career ending car accident.

References

External links

an
Seamheads
{{DEFAULTSORT:Butts, Pee Wee 1919 births 1972 deaths Atlanta Black Crackers players Baltimore Elite Giants players Baseball players from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Sparta, Georgia 20th-century African-American sportspeople