Former Royals catcher Drew Butera announces his retirement from Major League Baseball

Drew Butera’s lone appearance in the 2015 World Series came as a defensive replacement in the 12th inning of Game 5. But that’s all it took for him to become a part of history.

After Royals catcher Salvador Perez opened the top of the 12th inning with a single at Citi Field, Jarrod Dyson came on as a pinch runner. The Royals ended up scoring five times in the inning, leaving Mets fans stunned.

When Wade Davis came on to close out the game and the series, Butera was behind the plate and caught the final strike, which the Mets’ Wilmer Flores simply watched.

Butera, who on Monday announced his retirement from professional baseball after 16 seasons, will long be remembered by Royals fans for this moment.

Butera clutched that ball as he thanked home-plate umpire Alfonso Marquez, hugged Davis and then was engulfed by a group of happy Royals players. All the time, Butera knew he had an important part of Royals history in his glove.

After taking the ball home for the winter, Butera gave it to the Royals at FanFest in 2016.

“For the first couple of weeks, I was excited,” Butera told The Star at the time. “I was like, it’s mine, I can show my grandkids. I was thinking about it and it wasn’t me singularly winning the World Series, it was a group of guys that came together. It was a town that stood behind us for 162 games.

“It belongs to Kansas City. It belongs to our team and I donated it back to the Royals and they’re going to put it in the Hall of Fame.”

Butera, 39, was drafted in the fifth round of the 2005 MLB Draft by the Mets. He was traded two years later to the Minnesota Twins and made his big league debut in 2010. A series of other trades soon followed as Butera went to the Dodgers in 2013, the Angels after the 2014 season and then joined the Royals on May 7, 2015.

After the World Series, Butera stayed with the Royals until he was shipped to the Rockies before the trade deadline in 2018. He had stops with the Rangers, Astros and Angels later in his career.

Butera appeared in 553 career games, and 226 of them were with the Royals. Butera shared the news on his Instagram page.

“It’s taken me a bit to find these words,” he wrote. “There were so many emotions that I had but the strongest one was grateful. For 16 years and parts of 12 at the highest level, I was able to do something I loved and call it my job. It never felt like work to me though. Thank you to the @mets @twins @dodgers @angels @rockies and the @kcroyals organizations and fans for letting me live out my dream.

“I loved every bit of the process. The early morning work outs with @coachjdh (Jeff Higuera). Thank you for taking me places I couldn’t take myself. Your dedication to your craft and your friendship to me will last a lifetime. The countless hours I spent at practice or in a cage. Thank you to all my teammates and coaches throughout my career. Your encouragement and accountability helped get the most out of my talent.

“To my family and wife. You guys will never know how grateful I am of the sacrifices you have made for me. I appreciate the crazy amount of selfless time and effort you guys have given me to help me accomplish and live my dream. And dad you can finally give your arm a rest. I think 39 years of BP is good enough. I was very fortunate to be a part of some really cool moments in this game and I’m looking forward to passing along what knowledge I’ve gained to help keep our game so great.”

Former Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer responded to Butera’s message with one word: “CHAMP.”

Other former Royals teammates also congratulated Butera. Here is a screenshot of what Brandon Finnegan, Ian Kennedy and Kris Medlen wrote: