June 24, 2007

For love of the game
Quakes' Butcher following his family passion for baseball in the Cal League
By Michelle Gardner, Staff Writer

Gary Butcher swears Ray Kinsella had nothing on him. The character, portrayed by Kevin Costner in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, built a baseball field in a corn field on his farm.

Butcher, a former minor leaguer in the Angels organization, did the same on his 10-acre ranch in Santa Ynez nearly two decades ago. Work started before the movie came out but it took almost a year. So by the time it was ready for play, the movie had been released.

"The first time I saw the land I thought it would be the perfect place for a baseball field," Butcher recalled. "We didn't have any cattle so we had to do something with it. It was a labor of love."

With a passion for the game running in the family, Gary's son Brok seemed destined to excel. Now 23, he is the top pitcher for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, having been selected to the California League All-Star team earlier this month.

"I thought it was the coolest thing. It was like Fenway Park without the Green Monster. We had all our Little League practices there," Brok recalled. "Even when my team wasn't out there, I was out there throwing or hitting a bucket of balls with dad."

Gary Butcher, now 63, admits he is living a dream through his son because he never advanced past the Single-A California League. After two years in professional baseball he had a chance to move up to Triple-A, then in Hawaii. He had one child and another on the way so he gave up the sport for a more stable living.

Brok's older brother Jason played professionally in the Dodgers organization. He also played in the California League for that team's affiliate in Bakersfield but saw his career derailed by four arm surgeries.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound right-hander is cherishing the opportunity to play in some of the same ballparks where they both pitched. He hurled a complete game four-hitter in his first start at San Jose Municipal Stadium, first used in 1942. He also won at Sam Lynn Ballpark in Bakersfield which has existed since 1941.

"I'm literally following in their footsteps and pitching in a lot of the same places they did. That is neat to be able to do that," he said.

"Those places haven't changed one bit," Gary said.

Gary admits Brok has shown more potential than he did. But that doesn't mean Brok's path to professional baseball has been easy. He went to UC Santa Barbara but was cut from the team by pitching coach Dan Rickabal who ended up being his pitching coach in rookie ball three years later.

Butcher said Rickabal didn't remember him when he got to spring training after being drafted and he didn't bring up their parting.

Brok transferred to Santa Barbara City College but things didn't work out there either and he ended up at Oxnard Junior College where he earned All-American honors as a closer and left fielder.

Brok secured a scholarship to Cal State Fullerton but opted to turn pro after being drafted by the Angels in the 25th round of the 2005 draft. Last year was his first in professional baseball and he spent most of that with the Angels affiliate in Cedar Rapids.

But this has been a breakout year. His record is subpar at 4-5 only because his offense has not provided much run support. His ERA of 2.15 is the league's fourth-lowest and he has 12 quality starts in 14 tries with two complete games.

Quakes pitching coach Ken Patterson has been pleased with his protege but says he is best as a starter.

"Usually a closer has that one dominant pitch. He has a lot of pretty good pitches but not that one dominant pitch," Patterson said. "He is not overpowering. His breaking ball is good, not great.

He has good change-up but it's not great. But he locates well and he's very competitive. He wants to win."

Patterson is working with Butcher on some of the finer points of the game in preparation for the next level. His delivery to the plate is slow which gives would-be base stealers a good head start. He also is trying to improve his two-strike breaking ball.

"But those are very minor things you can fix," Patterson said.

"He has the ability and the makeup to be a very good pitcher."

Gary Butcher, who now lives in Torrance, has been there every step of the way. He is at all of Brok's starts and attended the all-star game in Stockton even though Brok did not pitch because he had thrown five innings two days earlier.

The three baseball-playing Butchers also have competed in a father-son tournament held each year in Phoenix. The trio has been on the winning team twice and played against the likes of former major leaguers Bill Lee and Ozzie Virgil and their sons.

The chance to play together was yet another memory.

"We had a pitching rotation of Butcher, Butcher and Butcher," Gary said. "I pitched a game that Jason caught and Brok played center. So we were straight up the middle."

The family sold the ranch five years ago so the Butcher version of Field of Dreams no longer exists. But Brok has not forgotten where he got his start.

"I have been by there a couple of times and it's gone," he said. "Grass has grown over what used to be the infield. It's too bad. But I have good memories."