Getting traded midseason in 1987 to the American League didn’t seem to help Sal Butera. It just meant he played a lot more.
Butera batted a total of 9 times between 1983-1984. In the next two years, he never had more than 120 at-bats. I guess Cincinnati finally gave up on him and shipped him off to the Twins. He didn’t get a whole lot of playing time with them either but when you see his card, you can see why.
For the season of 1987, Butera only batted .172 and slugged .262. He did manage to strike out 22 times and hit into seven double plays however.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 Totals | 56 | 43 | 134 | 122 | 8 | 21 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 22 | .172 | .220 | .262 |
Sal’s card gets two 0s and the standard 8-8-8-9-9 combination. For some reason, APBA is sometimes reluctant to put to unusual result numbers on top (i.e. 31 and 51) so he gets the better 14 at 31 and instead a 25-36.
For his seven DPs in 134 plate appearances, Butera received five 24s giving him a 23-24. He also gets an ugly 13-13.
Sal Butera trivia: He is the father of Drew Butera who played the last three seasons in the majors. Like his father, Drew played catcher for the Twins. Also like his father, he has the penchant for hitting below the Mendoza Line.
