‘All right, we’re doing this?’: Washington Nationals new manager details how he became a dad & an MLB skipper in the same day

By Hannah Keyser, CNN

(CNN) — When Blake Butera checked his phone after the birth of his first baby, he had about 600 text messages congratulating him on his new job: fatherhood.

Well, not just fatherhood.

The 33-year-old new dad to a daughter was also named the Washington Nationals’ new manager, making him the youngest major league manager in over 50 years. That news had broken about two hours before Blair Margaux Butera was born.

“I didn’t respond until we got out of the hospital a couple days later and, with that, it was funny because almost half the messages were like ‘Congrats on the job!’ and then another text message a day later that was like, ‘Oh wait, and you guys had a baby!’” Butera told CNN Sports.

Actually, to be precise, both baby and job were finalized on the same day.

Before he even agreed to interview for one of the most exclusive jobs in the world, Butera needed to ask his wife: “Is this something we can do right now?”

Butera, the then Tampa Bay Rays’ senior director of player development, had wanted to be a major league manager someday, but he was happy in his role, happy with his organization and about to have his first baby.

His wife, Caroline Margolis, was adamant.

“She’s like, ‘We’ll figure it out, we always do,’” Butera said. “She’s like, ‘This is how the baseball world is. It’s hard to prepare and plan for everything to go exactly how you want it to, or how you expect it to.’”

“I just know it’s something he’s always thought about and dreamt about,” Margolis told CNN Sports. “He was really missing being back on the field.”

In baseball, teams have to grant permission for one of their employees to interview elsewhere. This meant that the Nats’ new general manager, Paul Toboni, needed to speak with the Rays president of baseball operations, Erik Neander, before reaching out to Butera. Neander had told Toboni that Butera was expecting a baby imminently.

“So when Paul reached out, he said, ‘I’m fully aware of what’s going on. I have four kids myself. Before we start this process, I want you to know that your wife and your soon-to-be baby are first and foremost. And if we ever have to cut off communication, I completely understand. I don’t want you to miss the birth of your first child. You need to be there for that, you need to be there for Caroline,’” Butera said.

That, and Toboni’s willingness to come to Raleigh, where Butera and Margolis live, for the interview rather than requiring him to travel in the weeks near the end of her pregnancy, reassured them about the organization’s priorities. They moved forward with the process.

October 26 was the baby’s due date. The next day, a Monday, the Nationals offered Butera the job, kicking off the contract negotiations. On October 29, Butera and Margolis went to the hospital. They discussed the contract and watched the World Series game on TV that night.

In the morning, October 30, Toboni called Butera to tell him that ESPN’s Jeff Passan was about to break the news. Soon, everyone would know that he was the next Nats manager. His new boss advised Butera to turn off his phone and focus on his family.

But the TV was still on in the delivery room. The news of Butera’s hiring aired just as his wife was about to deliver their baby.

“You couldn’t even make it up,” he said. “It just feels like a story that’s not real.”

Later, after they’d moved to the recovery room, Butera signed his contract making the hiring official.

“Once we had settled our breath a little bit, I was like, ‘All right, we’re doing this? You’re ready for me to sign the contract?’” Butera said. “Signed the contract together and said, ‘All right, well, we’re now a new family, and we also have kind of a new chapter in our lives.’”

“To the extent that I remember it, that is how I remember it,” Margolis laughed. “I just remember her being in my arms.”

The Nats waited two weeks to introduce their new manager so the equally new parents could have some time to settle in. The news conference was a full family affair. Baby Blair came, along with Margolis and her parents, and the Nats welcomed them with a custom jersey small enough to fit a two-week-old.

That wasn’t even her first merch. The team had a care package waiting at the couple’s home when they got back from the hospital – three gift bags all full of Washington Nationals baby clothes.

“It was strictly for Blair. Like, the only one we care about here is Blair,” Butera said. “I think we’re learning pretty early that Blair is the focus here.”

Blair and Toboni’s four boys were highlighted in a social media post by the team as well.

“Sports, and baseball in particular, you’re gone so much of the year. I think it’s really hard on families sometimes,” Butera told CNN Sports. “It’s just important to us that we still spend time together as a family in an industry where it’s really hard to. I think just being able to see that on social media and on TV, like for others to see, it means a lot to us.”

For Margolis, this whirlwind has been just what she expected out of a life in baseball.

“That’s what you sign up for. They’re gone a lot, and if you’re not supporting the passion and the dream, then it’s just not going to work,” she said.

And this particular complication was one they were excited to have. Margolis is just beginning to think about what it will mean for Blair to grow up around a major league clubhouse.

“I hope that she will appreciate how special it is and just how cool,” Margolis said. “Her dad’s job is very cool.”

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