1997 Atlanta Braves season

The 1997 Atlanta Braves season marked the franchise's 32nd season in Atlanta and 127th overall. The Braves won their third consecutive division title, taking the National League East title by 9 games over the second place Florida Marlins. However, the Marlins would later defeat the Braves in the 1997 National League Championship Series. 1997 was the first year that the Braves played their home games in Turner Field, which originally served as a venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics.

1997 Atlanta Braves
National League East Champions
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record101–61 (.623)
Divisional place1st
Other information
Owner(s)Time Warner
General manager(s)John Schuerholz
Manager(s)Bobby Cox
Local televisionWTBS
TBS Superstation
(Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson)
SportSouth
(Tim Brando, Ernie Johnson, Bob Rathbun)
Local radioWSB (AM)
(Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson)
< Previous season     Next season >

Off season
  • November 20, 1996: John Smoltz was signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.[1]
  • November 25, 1996: Paul Byrd was traded by the New York Mets with a player to be named later to the Atlanta Braves for Greg McMichael. The New York Mets sent Andy Zwirchitz (minors) (May 25, 1997) to the Atlanta Braves to complete the trade.[2]
  • December 19, 1996: Mike Bielecki was signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.[3]
  • March 25, 1997: Kenny Lofton was traded by the Cleveland Indians with Alan Embree to the Atlanta Braves for Marquis Grissom and David Justice.

Regular season

Opening day starters

Season standings
NL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Atlanta Braves 10161 0.623 — 50–31 51–30
Florida Marlins 9270 0.568 9 52–29 40–41
New York Mets 8874 0.543 13 50–31 38–43
Montreal Expos 7884 0.481 23 45–36 33–48
Philadelphia Phillies 6894 0.420 33 38–43 30–51

Record vs. opponents
1997 National League Records

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LA MTL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Atlanta—9–29–25–64–87–46–510–25–710–25–68–37–48–37–5
Chicago2–9—7–52–92–93–95–64–76–56–57–56–55–64–89–6
Cincinnati2–95–7—5–65–65–76–56–52–98–38–45–64–76–69–6
Colorado 6–59–26–5—7–45–65–77–46–54–74–74–84–87–49–7
Florida8–49–26–54–7—7–47–47–54–86–67–45–65–65–612–3
Houston4–79–37–56–54–7—7–48–37–44–76–66–53–89–34–11
Los Angeles 5–66–55–67–54–74–7—7–46–510–19–25–76–65–69–7
Montreal2–107–45–64–75–73–84–7—5–76–65–68–36–56–512–3
New York7–55–69–25–68–44–75–67–5—7–57–45–63–89–27–8
Philadelphia2-105–63–87–46–67–41–106–65–7—5–67–43–86–55–10
Pittsburgh6–55–74–87–44–76–62–96–54–76–5—5–68–39–37–8
San Diego3–85–66–58–46–55–67–53–86–54–76–5—4–85–68–8
San Francisco4–76–57–48–46–58–36–65–68–38–33–88–4—3–810–6
St. Louis3–88–46–64–76–53-96–55–62–95–63–96–58–3—8–7

Roster
1997 Atlanta Braves
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
CJavy López123414122.2952368
1BFred McGriff152564156.2772297
2BMark Lemke10935186.245226
SSJeff Blauser151519160.3081770
3BChipper Jones157597176.29521111
LFRyan Klesko143467122.2612484
CFKenny Lofton122493164.333548
RFMichael Tucker138499141.2831456

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Andruw Jones15339992.2311870
Eddie Pérez7319141.215618
Tony Graffanino10418648.258820
Keith Lockhart9614741.279632
Danny Bautista6410325.24339
Mike Mordecai618114.17303
Rafael Belliard727115.21113
Greg Colbrunn285415.27829
Tommy Gregg13195.26300
Randall Simon13146.42901
Tim Spehr8143.21414
Ed Giovanola1482.25000
Greg Myers991.11101

Pitching

Starting pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
John Smoltz3525615123.02241
Tom Glavine332401472.96152
Denny Neagle34233.12052.97172
Greg Maddux33232.21942.20177

Other pitchers
Player G IP W L ERA SO
Kevin Millwood1251.1534.0342
Terrell Wade1242235.3635
Chris Brock730.2005.5816

Relief pitchers
Player G W L SV ERA SO
Mark Wohlers7157333.5092
Alan Embree663102.5445
Brad Clontz515113.7542
Mike Bielecki503724.0860
Mike Cather352402.3929
Paul Byrd314405.2637
Chad Fox300103.2928
Joe Borowski202203.756
Kerry Ligtenberg151013.0019
John LeRoy11000.003

Turner Field

In 1997, the Braves moved into Turner Field. The ballpark was built across the street from the former home of the Braves, Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, which was demolished in the summer of 1997.

The most popular name choice among Atlanta residents for the new stadium at the time of its construction (according to a poll in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) was Hank Aaron Stadium. After the ballpark was instead named after Ted Turner, the city of Atlanta renamed the section of Capitol Avenue on which the stadium sits Hank Aaron Drive, giving Turner Field the street number 755, after Aaron's home run total.

After the 1996 Summer Olympics were complete the stadium was officially given as a gift to the Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc. (the Atlanta Braves) Ted Turner, then owner of the Braves, agreed to pay a large sum of the cost to build Centennial Olympic Stadium (approximately $170 million of the $209 million bill), if in turn, the stadium was built in a way that it could be converted to a new baseball stadium and that the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) paid for the conversion.[4] This was considered a good agreement for both the Olympic Committee and the Braves, because there would be no use for a permanent 85,000 seat track and field stadium in Downtown Atlanta (as the 71,000 seat Georgia Dome was completed four years earlier by the state of Georgia) and the Braves had already been exploring opportunities for a new stadium.[5]

Turner Field exterior from Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard

1997 National League Division Series

Houston Astros vs. Atlanta Braves

Atlanta wins the series, 3-0

GameScoreDateLocationAttendance
1Houston Astros – 1, Atlanta Braves – 2September 30Turner Field46,467[6]
2Houston Astros – 3, Atlanta Braves – 13October 1Turner Field49,200[7]
3Atlanta Braves – 4, Houston Astros – 1October 3Astrodome53,688[8]

1997 National League Championship Series
Game Date Visitor Score Home Score Record

(FLA-ATL)

 Attendance
1 October 7 Florida 5 Atlanta 3 1-0 49,244
2 October 8 Florida 1 Atlanta 7 1-1 48,933
3 October 10 Atlanta 2 Florida 5 2-1 53,857
4 October 11 Atlanta 4 Florida 0 2-2 54,890
5 October 12 Atlanta 1 Florida 2 3-2 46,496
6 October 14 Florida 7 Atlanta 4 4-2 50,466
Florida wins series 4–2 and advance to the World Series

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Richmond Braves International League Bill Dancy
AA Greenville Braves Southern League Randy Ingle
A Durham Bulls Carolina League Paul Runge
A Macon Braves South Atlantic League Brian Snitker
A-Short Season Eugene Emeralds Northwest League Jim Saul
Rookie Danville Braves Appalachian League Rick Albert
Rookie GCL Braves Gulf Coast League Frank Howard

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Greenville[9]

References
  1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smoltjo01.shtml
  2. Paul Byrd Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bielemi01.shtml
  4. Sandomir, Richard (July 30, 1996). "At Close of Games, Braves Will Move Into Olympic Stadium". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 28, 2008. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  5. Kendrick, Scott. "Turner Field". About.com. Retrieved July 24, 2008.
  6. "1997 NLDS – Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros – Game 1". Retrosheet. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
  7. "1997 NLDS – Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros – Game 2". Retrosheet. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
  8. "1997 NLDS – Atlanta Braves vs. Houston Astros – Game 3". Retrosheet. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
  9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.