MOULTRIE — Former Atlanta Brave Brett Butler, who retired in 1997 and is just easing his way back into professional baseball, says his goal is to be a big league manager.

And those who might scoff at his chances of returning to a major league dugout might want to look at the odds he has already beaten.

When he was found to have throat cancer in May 1996 while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he asked the doctor what his chances were of playing baseball again.

The doctor told him 5,000-to-1.

Butler, who never started on his high school baseball team and had just 32 at bats as a senior, just shrugged.

“That’s nothing,” Butler said. “The odds on me getting to the major leagues were 10,000-to-1.”

Butler, of course, returned to the Dodgers lineup before the end of the season and played another year — batting .283 — before retiring.

Butler, who played 17 years in the major leagues and who is now a roving instructor for the New York Mets, was in Moultrie on Thursday to speak at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ John Mobley Banquet.

Before attending the banquet, he spent about 45 minutes talking to the Colquitt County High baseball team at Ike Aultman Field before its game with Lawton Chiles High of Tallahassee.

And while many motivational speakers can tell others not to let anyone or anything stand in their way while chasing their dreams, Butler can use himself as a prime example.

As a freshman in high school, he was 5-feet tall and weighed 89 pounds.

He played freshman and junior varsity baseball before reaching the varsity as a junior, only to spend the season keeping score.

“I did not have an at bat,” he told the Packers.

As a senior, he did not start a game and had just 32 at bats.

But convinced he could play college baseball, he selected one of the top collegiate programs in 1975 — Arizona State — and walked on.

Out of 208 players who tried out, he was one of eight who stuck. He hit .340 on the junior varsity, but was so anonymous, the head coach never knew his name.

The next year he got a scholarship to Southeast Oklahoma and became a two-time second-team All America.

Following his collegiate career, he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves and signed for a $1,000 bonus.

Two years later, he was in the major leagues.

‘My dad was a Marine and he told me if you have a dream, a desire or a goal, don’t let anybody tell you you can’t do it,” he said.

Butler added, “And if you go through it half-heartedly, you’ll always regret it.”

Butler finished his major league career with a .290 batting average and retired as one of just 26 major leaguers to have more than 500 stolen bases and 2,000 hits in a career. He finished with 2,375 hits and 558 stolen bases.

After leaving the Braves, Butler, now 45, played for the Cleveland Indians, San Francisco Giants, New Yorks Mets and the Dodgers.

He nearly joined Dusty Baker’s Chicago Cubs coaching staff this season, But he took the job as a roving instructor and hopes to manage in the instructional league as steps toward returning to major leagues.