BASEBALL DAILY REPORT : DODGERS : Chicago Strikes a Chord With Butler

It was an emotional day Monday for Dodger center fielder Brett Butler.

The last time he was in Chicago, a month ago, he was arranging funeral services for his mother.

The last time he was at Wrigley Field, in July, his mother was in the stands, watching him play for the final time.

“That’s something I’ll never forget,” Butler said. “It brought tears to my eyes.”

Butler’s mother, Betty, was found to have brain cancer the last week of spring training. One of her dying wishes was to see her son play one more time, and the Cubs accommodated her, arranging for her to be in a private box with a personal nurse.

Butler, then playing for the New York Mets, responded with seven hits in two games, and went on to get 15 hits in four games.

“My mom said, ‘I want to be an inspiration,’ ” Butler recalled. “I said, ‘Mom, you always have been my inspiration.’ And you know what? She always will be.”

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Third baseman Tim Wallach’s remarkable return to the lineup, only 16 days after tearing a ligament in his left knee, prompted memories of Kirk Gibson playing on a bad leg during the 1988 stretch run.

“Gibson was as good a leader as I’ve ever had,” Manager Tom Lasorda said. “But Gibson and Wallach are as far apart as telephone poles. Gibson was a madman. When Gibson made an out, I walked to the end of the dugout. . . . That’s what I do with [Mike] Piazza now.”

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Rookie outfielder Todd Hollandsworth, who has been on the disabled list since Aug. 10 because of a broken right thumb, expects to be activated today. . . . Third baseman Mike Busch, who grew up only 2 1/2 hours from Chicago, never had been to Wrigley Field until Monday. “The place is awesome,” he said. “I can’t believe it. I was trying to hit a homer on Waveland Avenue during batting practice, but the wind was blowing in too hard.”