Jeff LeProwse’s 2013 Butte Miners baseball team didn’t need a fancy baseball field.

In fact, those boys didn’t need a field at all.

“These guys will play on a parking lot,” LeProwse said as he got ready for the season.

Compared to the fields the other American Legion teams around the state played on, a parking lot did not seem like much of a step back from the Miners’ new digs on Field No. 4 at Copper Mountain Park.

Butte’s American Legion Baseball program appeared to be on life support. The year before, the team had 11 players in the entire program, and then the Miners lost their home field in the name of progress on the Montana Tech campus.

Tech was renovating Alumni Coliseum to put in an artificial turf for the football field, and the school had plans to build a beautiful new building where the grandstands once stood.

So, the 2012 season was the final in a long run at Alumni Coliseum for the Butte Miners.

The smart money was on the Miners closing up shop. But the smart money didn’t know Jeff LeProwse, the man we call “Frenchy.”

The numbers were not on his side. The field was not on his side, and the knuckleheads in charge of Montana Legon Baseball wouldn’t let the Miners play in the Class A because the town had too many boys in high school.

When the Butte boys needed a life line, so many other Legion baseball programs around the state offered them a foot on the head as they struggled to stay above water.

Even some of the strongest supporters of baseball in Butte figured it was curtains for the Butte boys. We had a good run. It was time for the Miners and Muckers to go the way of the Butte Copper Kings and disappear forever.

However, LeProwse did not waiver.  Come hell or high water, the Butte Miners were going to have a season. And they did.

While they couldn’t play a conference schedule in 2013, they played all spring and summer. When they couldn’t play in a conference tournament, LeProwse found a way to get them to play on an even bigger stage.

The Miners played as “Team Montana” in the Western Region Big League Baseball Tournament in Bremerton, Washington, in July of 2013.

Eventually, the Miners started playing in the Class AA again, even though they didn’t have the numbers or age to compete. The players and their coach just kept showing up to play, even as the losses mounted.

Slowly, though, the program started to build up. Eventually, Butte was allowed to play in the Class A because our high school enrollment numbers dropped low enough that the other Legion programs had no choice but to compete against the Miners.

In 2022 — nine years after the Butte boys first found themselves without a home — the Butte Miners were champions of the Montana Class A and the Northwest Class A Region.

It is one of the greatest comeback stories ever told.

Even better than that, baseball is thriving in Butte like it has not in years. Not only did we eventually get the Butte Muckers back in the Legion program, last year we added a third team, the Butte Motormen.

Boys in Butte are once again growing up dreaming of being Butte Miners. That would not be happening without Jeff LeProwse.

Butte has had some bona fide legends in its baseball program over the years. None were bigger that Jack Whelan, Jim Hanley and Jack Cavanagh, the three legends of 3 Legends Stadium.

LeProwse is right on their level.

Not only did he keep the boys playing, he led the charge to give them their new stadium. He was the mastermind behind the project. He had a dream and he pushed and pushed until that dream became a reality.

That took countless hours of planning, working and dreaming. LeProwse did all that because he knew the boys of Butte wanted to play.

He had coached the few players of 2012 and 2013 Miners in travel ball for years, and he knew their mentality. The only person around who loved baseball as much as the players was their coach. Jeff would play on a parking lot, so he would certainly coach on one.

Butte’s boys played on Field No. 4 on Copper Mountain Park from 2013 through 2016. The field did not have lights or permanent seating. It was basically a bigger version of a Little League field.

Scown Field uptown is a way nicer stadium than what the Miners were playing on.

Not once did you hear LeProwse or his players complain, though. They just showed up and played until 3 Legends Stadium opened in May of 2017.

We went from one step above a parking lot to one of the best Legion facilities in the state. Never again will the Butte boys have to wonder where they will play.

LeProwse stepped down from coaching the Miners after a 10-year run in 2021. That was 10 years in which he spent every free second on baseball — even in the winter. His vacation days went to take the Miners on the road for games.

LeProwse stayed on as president of the program, though, and watched as his older brother, Jim, coached the Miners to the District, State and Regional titles in 2022.

Jeff played Buck Showalter to Jim’s Joe Torre. He was Mark Beckman to Jim’s Tom Berg.

But nobody in town was happier to see the Miners crowned champions than Jeff.

This past Saturday night, the Butte Legion program let Jeff know just how much his years of dedication are appreciated. In a surprise ceremony in the rain, the Butte Legion program named its Memorial Day tournament the “Jeff LeProwse Baseball Tournament.”

While I voted for the “Frenchy Invitational,” that name is a fitting one.

As words of some of the people who know all that Jeff has done were read over the speakers, current and future Legion players surrounded Jeff on the field.

Public address announcer Dave Dunmire read the words of Jim LeProwse last. Those words were directed to his younger brother.

“Without your dedication and leadership, American Legion Baseball in Butte would no longer exist,” Jim’s statement read. “It took a lot of courage to take a group of 14- and 15-year-old players and compete in (Class) AA Legion Baseball without a field to call your own and against teams with much older players on it.”

There wasn’t a dry eye at the ballpark when Jim’s words continued.

“I want you to look around the stadium at all the kids who are now playing Miners Junior Baseball. They have these opportunities because of your vision, leadership and dedication.”

It is not hyperbole to say that Jeff LeProwse saved baseball in Butte. It is simply stating fact.

If you go to a ballgame and watch the city light up as the sun goes down, you will see that there is not a better site in town. There might not be a better view anywhere, and we owe that all to Jeff.

Jim suggested that someday the stadium name should be changed to 4 Legends Stadium to include his brother. Jeff would never let that happen. He would have stopped the naming of the tournament had he known it was coming.

That naming the tournament in Jeff’s honor was a great touch to let the next generations know why they have such a beautiful ballpark to call their own.

Jim is right, though. Maybe the name of the stadium should be changed to include Jeff.

However, it might be more fitting to name the parking after him instead.

— Bill Foley, who is always going to call the tournament the “Frenchy Invite,” can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.