April 22, 2023

Official Toronto Maple Leafs News Release

TORONTO - The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired former Toronto Blue Jay Rob Butler as their new field manager.

Butler, who spent parts of four seasons in the Major Leagues with the Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies, is best known for his pinch hit against right-hander Curt Schilling in Game 5 of the 1993 World Series. He is the only Canadian to win the World Series while playing in Toronto.

In total, Butler batted .243 in 109 major league games.

In 2001, Butler joined the IBL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and led the league with a .488 batting average, while accumulating 16 doubles, six home runs, 28 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He went on to play five seasons in the IBL, finishing with a career batting average of .415 with 39 home runs and 113 RBIs.

Since hanging up his playing spikes, Butler has spent many years running clinics and coaching amateur baseball. Before joining the Leafs this year, he had already made a coaching commitment and will be coaching the Leafs when available until early August when those commitments are completed.

"I am so happy to be back in the best league in Canada, with my favourite team," said Butler of his new gig with the Leafs.

And Leafs GM Jeff Lounsbury is excited to have him onboard.

"Rob is a great fit for this team,” said Lounsbury. “He checks off every box that Ty Crawford and myself were looking for in the next manager of this team. We did not want to rush the selection and were prepared to be be patient. We understand that there will be some adjustments early in the year and some moving parts to fill in for Rob on games that he misses, but this veteran group will be able to manage. This is a long play, and the regular season will be used to climatize Rob back into the IBL, learn his players and hopefully that will lead to a strong final month into the IBL playoffs."