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Billy Butler regrets role in clubhouse scuffle that gave him concussion
A weird month for the Oakland A’s got even weirder last Friday in Chicago when Billy Butler and Danny Valencia were involved in a clubhouse scuffle over the latter’s cleat endorsement deal. The physical altercation resulted in Billy Butler sustaining a concussion, which landed him on MLB’s seven-day concussion list earlier this week.
Speaking for the first time since the incident on Wednesday, Butler said he’s progressing well and hopes to return as soon as he possibly can. He also apologized for his role in the incident, stating that he regrets his actions and takes equal blame for escalating the situation.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
“First off, I want to say to my teammates, I want to apologize for putting them through this because they didn’t deserve this,” Butler said. “This was an issue between me and Danny. They didn’t deserve this, the coaching staff didn’t deserve this, the organization didn’t deserve this. This something that could have been prevented on both sides.”
“It was one of those things, we both had equal fault in this,” Butler said. “I definitely said some things you shouldn’t, I definitely stepped in an area you shouldn’t. That wasn’t my business.”
According to a previous report from the Chronicle’s Susan Slusser, Butler for all intents and purposes butted into a conversation that didn’t involve him. He then proceeded to throw Valencia under the bus to a representative from the equipment company that Valencia has a cleat deal with, telling the representative that Valencia has gone against his contract numerous times. He even reportedly urged the representative to nix Valencia’s deal.
That’s when things turned physical. One player says they first bumped heads and then started pushing each other, before Valencia took a few swings and landed a punch to Butler’s temple.
“I know I regret what I did, I think he regrets what he did,” Butler added. “By no means do I think his intentions were to give me a concussion, I think that’s fair to say.”
We assume that’s true, though it does seem pretty clear that Butler intended to push Valencia’s buttons.
It’s also possible there’s a deeper backstory too that will come out eventually. Whatever the case, this is obviously a heated situation that went way too far and reflects poorly on everyone involved, including and perhaps especially the A’s.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
