1997 Boston Red Sox season

The 1997 Boston Red Sox season was the 97th season in the franchise's Major League Baseball history. The Red Sox finished fourth in the American League East with a record of 78 wins and 84 losses, 20 games behind the Baltimore Orioles. It was the last time the Red Sox had a losing record until 2012. The Red Sox had 5,781 at bats, a single-season major league record.[1]

1997 Boston Red Sox
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record78–84 (.481)
Divisional place4th (20 GB)
Other information
Owner(s)JRY Trust
General manager(s)Dan Duquette
Manager(s)Jimy Williams
Local televisionWABU
(Sean McDonough, Jerry Remy)
NESN
(Bob Kurtz, Jerry Remy)
Local radioWEEI
(Jerry Trupiano, Joe Castiglione)
WROL
(Bobby Serrano, Hector Martinez)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
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Offseason
  • December 9, 1996: Bret Saberhagen was signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.[2]
  • January 22, 1997: Steve Avery was signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.[3]
  • January 27, 1997: José Canseco was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Oakland Athletics for John Wasdin and cash.
  • January 31, 1997: Mike Benjamin was signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.[4]

Regular season

Season standings
AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 9864 0.605 — 46–35 52–29
New York Yankees 9666 0.593 2 47–33 49–33
Detroit Tigers 7983 0.488 19 42–39 37–44
Boston Red Sox 7884 0.481 20 39–42 39–42
Toronto Blue Jays 7686 0.469 22 42–39 34–47

Record vs. opponents
1997 American League Records

Sources:
Team ANA BAL BOS CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR NL 
Anaheim —4–76–56–57–45–66–57–44–74–711–16–68–46–54–12
Baltimore 7–4—5–75–66–56–67–45–610–18–48–37–410–16–68–7
Boston 5–67–5—3–86–55–73–88–38–34–87–47–43–86–66–9
Chicago 5–66–58–3—5–74–711–14–76–62–98–35–63–85–68–7
Cleveland 4–75–65–67–5—6–58–38–48–45–67–43–85–66–59–6
Detroit 6–56–67–57–45–6—6–54–74–72–107–44–77–46–68–7
Kansas City 5–64–78–31–113–85–6—6–67–53–83–85–66–55–66–9
Milwaukee 4–76–53–87–44–87–46–6—5–74–75–65–67–47–48–7
Minnesota 7–41–103–86–64–87–45–77–5—3–87–45–63–83–87–8
New York 7–44–88–49–26–510–28–37–48–3—6–54–77–47–55–10
Oakland 1–113–84–73–84–74–78–36–54–75–6—5–75–76–57–9
Seattle 6–64–74–76–58–37–46–56–56–57–47–5—8–48–37–9
Texas 4–81–108–38–36–54–75–64–78–34–77–54–8—4–710–6
Toronto 5–66–66–66–55–66–66–54–78–35–75–63–87–4—4–11
Red Sox vs. National League East
Team ATL FLA MON NYM PHI
Boston 0–3 1–2 0–3 2–1 3–0

Notable Transactions
  • July 31, 1997: Heathcliff Slocumb was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Seattle Mariners for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek.
  • August 30, 1997: Curtis Pride was signed as a Free Agent with the Boston Red Sox.[5]

Opening Day Line Up
  5Nomar Garciaparra    SS
13John Valentin2B
42Mo Vaughn1B
20Mike StanleyDH
11Tim Naehring3B
12Wil CorderoLF
44Rudy PembertonRF
37Bill HaselmanC
24Shane MackCF
36Tom GordonP

Roster
1997 Boston Red Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Wally the Green Monster
Wally the Green Monster
Main article: Wally the Green Monster

Wally the Green Monster is the official mascot for the Boston Red Sox. His name is derived from the Green Monster nickname of the 37-foot wall in left field at Fenway Park. Wally debuted in 1997 to the chagrin of many older Red Sox fans. Although he was a hit with children, the older fans did not immediately adopt him as part of the franchise. According to the Red Sox promotions department, Wally was a huge Red Sox fan who decided to move inside the left field wall of Fenway Park since it "eats up" hits that would easily be home runs at other parks in 1947. Apparently, he was very shy and lived the life of a hermit for 50 years. On the 50th anniversary of the Green Monster in 1997, he came out of the manual scoreboard and has been interacting with players and fans ever since.[6] Thanks to former Red Sox second baseman and current broadcaster Jerry Remy, those older fans have adored him.

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In; SB = Stolen Bases

Starters by position
Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI SB
CScott Hatteberg11435097.27710440
1BMo Vaughn141527166.31535962
2BJohn Valentin143575176.30618777
SSNomar Garciaparra153684209.306309822
3BTim Naehring7025974.2869401
LFWil Cordero140570160.28118721
CFDarren Bragg153513132.25795710
RFTroy O'Leary146499154.30915800
DHReggie Jefferson136489156.31913671

Other batters
Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI SB
Jeff Frye127404126.31235119
Mike Stanley9726078.30013530
Bill Haselman6721250.2366260
Shane Mack6013041.3153172
Mike Benjamin4911627.233072
Jesus Tavarez426912.174070
Rudy Pemberton276315.2382100
Michael Coleman8244.167021
Arquimedez Pozo4154.267030
Jose Malave440.000000
Walt McKeel530.000000
Curtis Pride221.500110
Jason Varitek1111.000000

Pitching

Note: G = Games Pitched; GS = Games Started; IP = Innings Pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned Run Average; SO = Strikeouts

Starting pitchers
Player G GS IP W L SV ERA SO
Tim Wakefield3529201.1121504.25151
Tom Gordon4225182.2610113.74159
Aaron Sele3333177.1131205.38122
Jeff Suppan2322112.17305.6967
Steve Avery221896.26706.4251

Relief pitchers
Player G GS IP W L SV ERA SO
Heathcliff Slocumb49046.205175.7936
John Wasdin537124.24604.4084
Butch Henry36584.17363.5251
Jim Corsi52057.25323.4340
Kerry Lacy33045.21136.1118

Other pitchers
Player G GS IP W L SV ERA SO
Chris Hammond29865.13415.9248
Vaughn Eshelman21642.23306.3318
Mark Brandenburg31041.00205.4934
Joe Hudson26035.23103.5314
Bret Saberhagen6626.00106.5814
Ron Mahay28025.03002.5222
Ricky Trlicek18023.13404.6310
Derek Lowe8016.00203.3813
Rich Garcés12013.20104.6112
Robinson Checo5213.11103.3814
Pat Mahomes10010.01008.105
Toby Borland303.100013.501
Ken Grundt203.00009.000
Brian Rose113.000012.003
Mike Benjamin101.00000.000

Game log

Red Sox Win Red Sox Loss Game Postponed
1997 Boston Red Sox Season Game Log: 78–84 (Home: 39–42; Away: 39–42)

Reference:[7]

Awards and honors
All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball

This was the first season that the Red Sox fielded their own team in the Dominican Summer League.

Level Team League Manager
AAA Pawtucket Red Sox International League Ken Macha
AA Trenton Thunder Eastern League DeMarlo Hale
A-Advanced Sarasota Red Sox Florida State League Rob Derksen
A Michigan Battle Cats Midwest League Billy Gardner Jr.
A-Short Season Lowell Spinners New York–Penn League Dick Berardino
Rookie GCL Red Sox Gulf Coast League Luis Aguayo
Rookie DSL Red Sox Dominican Summer League Nelson Norman

[8]

References
  1. "Team Batting Season Finder: For Single Seasons, from 1871 to 2018, At Bats>=5750, Standard statistics, Sorted by greatest At Bats". Baseball Reference. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  2. Bret Saberhagen Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  3. Steve Avery Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  4. Mike Benjamin Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
  5. Curtis Pride Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com
  6. The Official Site of The Boston Red Sox: Community: Wally
  7. "1997 Boston Red Sox Schedule". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 25, 2019.
  8. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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