The Twins and Tigers swapped catchers on March 25, 1983, with Minnesota sending Salvatore Butera to Detroit for minor leaguer Stine Poole and cash money.
Sal made Twins history on May 29, 1982, throwing out four baserunners in a 6-4 loss to the Yankees at home in the Dome.
The Twins re-signed Butera as a free agent on May 22, 1987.
Sal and Drew Butera are the only father-son combination to play for the Twins. They have pretty impressive big league pitching résumés, too. Sal did not allow a hit in his two major league pitching appearances. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning for Montreal in 1985. In 1986, he pitched a scoreless ninth for the Cincinnati Reds, walking one and striking out one. That’s a 0.00 ERA and 0.500 WHIP.
Drew, meanwhile, pitched a hitless bottom of the eighth for the Twins on May 20, 2012, walking one Brewer and striking out Carlos Gómez. Playing for the Dodgers, he pitched a 1-2-3 top of the ninth versus the Marlins on May 14, 2014. Three days later, however, Drew finally sullied the family’s 0.00 MLB ERA, giving up a two-run home run to Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt.
