Upbeat Butler Says He Will Be Back, He’s Just Not Sure When

Brett Butler’s neck was bright red and an ugly scar ran from his throat to his right shoulder.

The Dodger center fielder, who underwent throat cancer surgery last May, completed six weeks of radiation treatment Monday.

“It was like getting sunburned over and over and over again,” Butler said of the radiation therapy. “It’s painful. It’s like getting an X-ray, but it builds on itself, and yesterday was the worst. My throat is parched, and I have sores on my tongue. I lost about 11 pounds, but that’s pretty good.”

Butler said he still hopes to return to the Dodgers in September, though it has not been determined when or if he will come back.

“The [dryness] in the throat is all normal,” Butler said as he sipped from a water bottle. “They said that my neck, as bad as it looks now, is really how it’s supposed to look after three or four weeks of radiation, not six, so we were pleasantly surprised.

“Mentally, I feel good, but physically it’s been hard. I’m very fatigued and very run down. It took me an hour and 15 minutes this morning to eat a bowl of oatmeal.”

He was examined by team physician Dr. Frank Jobe and physical therapist Pat Screnar before Tuesday night’s game against the Florida Marlins.

Butler, who had one cancerous thumb-sized lymph-node tumor removed during surgery on May 3, and 49 benign lymph nodes removed during surgery on May 21, also has shoulder problems as a result of the surgery, which irritated nerves in his right shoulder when the incision was made.

“I think Pat was a little concerned that it had something to do with my rotator cuff, but my rotator cuff is fine,” Butler said. “There is atrophy in other places, but I really won’t know until tomorrow [when he undergoes further examination and testing].”

After undergoing tests today to determine the firing power of the nerves in his shoulder, Butler will visit a clinic in Tijuana to get a nutritional program to strengthen his immune system before going to New Orleans to visit with his personal trainer.

Butler, who was busy loading his gloves and other equipment into bags so that he can begin working out when he returns home to Duluth, Ga., still hopes to return to the Dodgers.

“I said from the beginning that I was going to come back, it was just a matter of when,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be feasible this season, but we’ll have to see.

“The main reason I’m in L.A. is because Pat wants to know where my physical fitness should be, and then from there we’ll be able to determine how far I have to come to get back in shape, and if that’s possible.”

New Dodger Manager Bill Russell hopes it’s possible.

“I saw Brett and I said, ‘Are you ready to play?’ and he said, ‘It’ll be a while,’ ” Russell said before managing his first game since Tom Lasorda announced his retirement Monday. “He even called me Skip.”

First baseman Eric Karros, who visited with Butler before the game, also realizes it might be some time before Butler returns.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but, obviously, it would be great to have Brett Butler back on this ballclub, but whether that happens, remains to be seen,” Karros said. “First and foremost is him getting healthy and secondary is him getting back to playing baseball, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens at the end of the year.”

Lasorda said the Dodgers, who are trying to win their second consecutive division title, need Butler for the stretch drive.

“He’s a very important man to this team,” Lasorda said. “Having him back would be a big addition to this ballclub because we miss him so very much.”