1940, 1942, 1946-47 
BILL BUTLAND   P

Bill Butland was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on March 22, 1918. He attended Gerstmeyer Technical High School in Terre Haute where he played basketball and baseball. During his senior year he was the center and the high scorer in every basketball game he played, except one. He played American Legion ball and for his high-school team and never lost a game his last two years of high school.

In the spring of 1935, his senior year, Red Sox scout, Bill Burwell, came to town to manage the unaffiliated Terre Haute Tots in the Class-B Three-I (Illinois-Indiana-Iowa) League and he held an open tryout. Burwell was hoping to find some local boys to help bolster the team and thus attract a better following and some 300 boys came out.

Bill reported to camp in Florida and was given his first start, in an exhibition game against Milwaukee. He set down the first 13 batters he faced and allowed just two hits in seven innings. He was signed and sent to pitch for the St. Augustine Saints in the Class-D Florida State League. In 1937, he had a brief stint with Minneapolis, and in 1938 had a very good record with the Crookston Pirates in the Northern League. He persevered and in 1939, won 19 games for the Double-A Minneapolis Millers. There were other teams after him, and he was signed by the Red Sox in August.

He finally debuted in May 1940, in Philadelphia, but he developed a sore right shoulder, and X-rays showed a chipped bone. In July, he was optioned to the Scranton Miners. The Red Sox exercised their option to hold onto rights to him, but did not ask him to return at the end of the season. They offered him a conditional contract for 1941 because his arm was said to be good. He pitched well in spring training but in March, was optioned to the Louisville Colonels. 

In 1942 it all came together for him. The side-armer stuck with the Red Sox all year long again, appeared in 23 games, and finished very strong. For the year, he had a 2.51 earned-run average, the best on the team. Then he suddenly got on a roll with a shutout of the Athletics in August, which was the first of seven consecutive starts that resulted in a win, and each one against a different team, leaving him with a 7-1 record at season’s end.

In November 1942, the Red Sox had been notified that Bill would be headed for the Army. He was originally given a 3-A deferment because he had so many dependents among his family, but apparently work in Terre Haute was so plentiful that many in the family were able to secure employment, so he was inducted at Evansville in December.

In 1943 he pitched for the base team at Camp Gordon in Georgia and was then shipped out overseas with Army artillery. He was in combat more than any other member of the Red Sox, saw action in the Philippines and Saipan, and saw the real stuff in the Philippine invasion. So, he got little opportunity to play baseball in service.

He was mustered out in time to join the 1946 Red Sox for spring training. He had some problems with his arm during the springtime but thought he’d worked through them by the time the season began. He got hit hard by the Yankees in a late-April game, then didn’t pitch again until June. When cut-down time came he was optioned to the Roanoke Red Sox in May.

In November, the White Sox-affiliated Hollywood Stars drafted him in that year’s minor-league draft. Working exclusively in relief, Bill wrapped up his career for Hollywood in 1948, Toledo in 1949, and in 1950, split between Toledo and Syracuse. He finally left the game when his sore arm would not respond to treatment.

After baseball, Bill worked as a plastic machine operator for Visking Co., a division of Union Carbide. He retired as a pipefitter for the Commercial Solvents Corporation.

Bill Butland passed away on September 19, 1997, at age 79, in Terre Haute, Indiana.