No. 96: Greatest Dodgers of All-Time: Brett Butler

Brett Butler

Time with Dodgers: 1991-1997

Stats: 763 G, .298/.392/.368/.760, 14 HR, 191 RBI, 837 H, 455 R, 179 SB, 75 2B, 41 3B, 112 OPS+

Baseball Reference WAR: 15.0

FanGraphs WAR: 14.0

Combined WAR: 14.5

After spending time with the Braves, Indians and Giants, Brett Butler signed with the Dodgers in 1991. He went to the Mets in 1995, but was brought back to Los Angeles for two-and-a-half more seasons to finish his career with the Dodgers.

Butler had quite the debut season with LA in 1991. He led the league with 730 plate appearances and 112 runs scored. He also led the league with 108 walks, which helped him have an on-base percentage of over .400. Butler was named an All-Star for the first time in his career, and finished seventh in the NL MVP voting.

Butler’s success continued over the next three seasons, as he received MVP votes in 1992 and 1994 as well. From 1992 through 1994, he hit .306 with an OPS of .800. He stole over 100 bases, walked just under 250 times and scored 250 times as well.

He signed with the Mets in the offseason following the 1994 season, but was traded back to the Dodgers halfway through the season. Over the next year-and-a-half he’d only play in 73 games, before playing 105 games in 1997 for the final season of his career.

At the age of 40, Butler showed he was still a valuable player to the team. He hit .283, had an on-base percentage of .363 and still stole 15 bases.

Here’s where Butler ranks in Dodgers franchise history:

• 3,342 PA’s (47th)
• 455 runs (41st)
• 837 hits (45th)
• 41 triples (33rd)
• 432 walks (23rd)
• 179 stolen bases (16th)

Get caught up on the rest of the “All-Time Dodgers” lists!

• 100 Greatest Dodgers of All-Time
• 100 Greatest Seasons in Dodgers History