OAKLAND, Calif. _ A's designated hitter Billy Butler, who is on the seven-day concussion disabled list, apologized Wednesday for his role in the fight with teammate Danny Valencia on Friday in Chicago that led to the concussion.
Butler, who said he'd never been on the disabled list in his decade in the big leagues, said he talked individually with his teammates Tuesday to apologize and planned on sitting with Valencia on Wednesday to do the same.
"I want to say just to my teammates, I would like to apologize to them for putting them through this," Butler said. "They did not deserve this. It was an issue between me and Danny. And to be fair to them, they didn't deserve this.
"The coaching staff didn't deserve this. The organization didn't deserve this. This was something that could have been prevented on both sides. I definitely said some things I shouldn't have. We both had equal faults in this."
Butler told an equipment manufacturers' representative that Valencia didn't always wear the shoes he was contracted to wear. It was no small issue for Valencia; those contracts typically are worth in excess of $10,000. Yelling escalated to what turned out to be a very short fight.
"I think it's one of those things where I know I regret what I did and I think he regrets what he did," Butler said. "Because of what happened to me, it had to come out publicly, I didn't want that to happen, and neither did he. By no means do I think his intentions were to give me a concussion. I think that's fair to say."
Asked if the two men, who had played together previously in Kansas City and who have a history of sometimes jocular, sometimes edgy verbal sparring in the clubhouse, can move forward as teammates, Butler said "absolutely."
"We will get past this not just because we're teammates, but because we have a long history together, not just from this team. There are a lot of qualities about Danny that I like. I know it looks like we fought. And we do it every day, just not to that extent. To say that we are enemies is not right. To blame this all on one side is not right either."
Butler will travel with the team on Thursday's off day to St. Louis, and he expects this weekend he will be given the concussion protocol tests and he expects to pass and be cleared to play. He said he began feeling better midday Tuesday, which was when he decided he was ready to make amends to his teammates and to address the media.
"I'm not through the concussion protocol yet," he said. "I am definitely progressing well. To say I am completely through it, I can't. I will be taking the tests in St. Louis at some point. To say I'm on schedule is fair."
