Jason Phillips of the Toronto Blue Jays (R) is congratulated by third base coach Brian Butterfield after hitting a home run off Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Daniel Cabrera (not pictured) in the third inning of their American League baseball game in Baltimore, Maryland May 22, 2007. The home run was the first of the season for Phillips.JOE GIZA
Brian Butterfield didn't drive his car off the highway on Friday when he got the news that his bid to be the next manager of the Toronto Blue Jays had failed - but he felt like it.
As he took the phone call from general manager Alex Anthopoulos while driving to his home in New Jersey that afternoon, Butterfield was informed that the managing position had gone to John Farrell, who has four years coaching experience on his resume, Butterfield has been a baseball coach for more than a quarter century - the last eight with the Blue Jays - and he admitted the snub of not getting the big job stung.
"I was tremendously let down," Butterfield said over the phone on Tuesday. "Anything that I've ever wanted to do I've never really gone at it half throttle. I've gone at it full throttle expecting the best results.
"So it hit me very hard."
So Butterfield's next decision to return to the Blue Jays next season as their third base coach and work for the man whose job he desperately wanted was therefore surprising considering he had other "options" within the game.
Butterfield wouldn't come right out and admit it, but he had a standing invitation to move to Baltimore and join the Orioles coaching staff of manager Buck Showalter.
Showalter and Butterfield were minor-league teammates in the early 1980s and they remain close friends.
But when Farrell, the pitching coach of the Boston Red Sox the last four years, contacted Butterfield on Friday night and asked if he would work with him in Toronto, Butterfield readily accepted.
"I really didn't feel like I had to swallow some pride," Butterfield said when asked about his decision to remain a Blue Jay. "I feel like I'm 53-years young not 53-years old and I know the nature of this beast.
"We're in a tough profession," Butterfield said. "This game is coached by men, played by men and managed by men. And there are times you don't get what you want but that doesn't mean that you go in a shell. There's no resentment."
Butterfield said the strides the Blue Jays have made since Anthopoulos became the GM, along with the fact that he has a lot of respect for Farrell, made his choice easy.
"I've really never cared about who scores the touchdowns or who scores the most points or who has the highest batting average," Butterfield said. "I've cared about wanting to be a champion and I feel like that's the direction the organization is going."
But that didn't prevent Butterfield from making a call or two to try and find out what Farrell was all about.
Earlier last week, when Farrell's name cropped up as one of the finalists for the Toronto job, Butterfield spoke with former pitcher and old friend Curt Schilling, who worked with Farrell in Boston.
"He couldn't say enough good things about John Farrell," Butterfield said. "He said he's a guy you would love to work with. And that's good enough for me because I've always had the utmost respect for Curt Schilling."
Butterfield won't be the lone holdover on the Blue Jays coaching staff next season.
Pitching coach Bruce Walton will also be retained although the fate of the rest of the coaches has yet to be finalized.
"He's the manager of the Blue Jays and he's always going to have his input into every little area of the game," Walton said when asked what it will be like having an ex-pitching coach as a boss. "I don't think it's going to be any different than dealing with Cito Gaston."
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