1997 New York Mets season

1997 New York Mets
1997 New York Mets
League	National League
Division	East
Ballpark	Shea Stadium
City	New York
Record	88–74 (.543)
Divisional place	3rd
Owners	Fred Wilpon and Nelson Doubleday, Jr.
General managers	Joe McIlvaine, Steve Phillips
Managers	Bobby Valentine
Television	WWOR-TV/SportsChannel New York; (Ralph Kiner, Tim McCarver, Fran Healy, Howie Rose, Gary Thorne)
Radio	WFAN; (Bob Murphy, Gary Cohen, Ed Coleman); WADO (spanish); (Juan Alicea, Billy Berroa)

The 1997 New York Mets season was the 36th regular season for the Mets. They went 88–74 and finished third in the National League East. They were managed by Bobby Valentine. They played home games at Shea Stadium. It was their first winning season since 1990, despite not making the playoffs.

Offseason

November 25, 1996: Paul Byrd and a player to be named later were traded by the Mets to the Atlanta Braves for Greg McMichael. The Mets completed the deal by sending Andy Zwirchitz (minors) to the Braves on May 25, 1997.^[1]
November 27, 1996: Rico Brogna was traded by the Mets to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ricardo Jordan and Toby Borland.^[2]
December 20, 1996: Robert Person was traded by the Mets to the Toronto Blue Jays for John Olerud and cash.^[3]
March 22, 1997: Héctor Ramírez was traded by the Mets to the Baltimore Orioles for Scott McClain and Manny Alexander.^[4]

Regular season

For the first time since 1990, the Mets finished the regular season with a winning record. Their offensive output was led by their corner infielders, the 23-year old third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo and the two-time former world champion first baseman John Olerud, the latter of whom was acquired in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays. Alfonzo, in his first full season as a starter, led the team with a .315 average and 163 hits while Olerud notched a .294 average and drove in 102 runs to lead the Mets in that category. Catcher Todd Hundley, a year removed from his record setting 1996 campaign, led the team in home runs with 30 and added 86 RBI, one of five Mets to record 70 or more (joining Alfonzo, Olerud, Bernard Gilkey, and Butch Huskey).

After a year out of baseball, Rick Reed joined the Mets' starting rotation and led them with a 2.89 ERA. Bobby Jones led with fifteen wins, with Reed recording thirteen. John Franco saved 36 games, his most since 1988.

Jackie Robinson tribute

On April 15 the Mets hosted ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers before their game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Shea Stadium.^[5] The ceremony was attended by President Bill Clinton and commissioner Bud Selig announced that Robinson's jersey number, 42, would be retired permanently across baseball.^[5] The Mets won the game 5-0.^[6]

Subway Series

Interleague play was brought to MLB in 1997 and the Mets played New York Yankees in June as part of the first ever regular season games that counted in the standings between the two teams (they had previously an exhibition game until 1983 during the season). The series took place at Yankee Stadium, and Mets won the first game by a score of 6-0.^[7]

Season standings

v
t
e
NL East
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Atlanta Braves	101	61	.623	—	50‍–‍31	51‍–‍30
Florida Marlins	92	70	.568	9	52‍–‍29	40‍–‍41
New York Mets	88	74	.543	13	50‍–‍31	38‍–‍43
Montreal Expos	78	84	.481	23	45‍–‍36	33‍–‍48
Philadelphia Phillies	68	94	.420	33	38‍–‍43	30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

1997 National League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LA	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL	AL
Atlanta	—	9–2	9–2	5–6	4–8	7–4	6–5	10–2	5–7	10–2	5–6	8–3	7–4	8–3	8–7
Chicago	2–9	—	7–5	2–9	2–9	3–9	5–6	4–7	6–5	6–5	7–5	6–5	5–6	4–8	9–6
Cincinnati	2–9	5–7	—	5–6	5–6	5–7	6–5	6–5	2–9	8–3	8–4	5–6	4–7	6–6	9–6
Colorado	6–5	9–2	6–5	—	7–4	5–6	5–7	7–4	6–5	4–7	4–7	4–8	4–8	7–4	9–7
Florida	8–4	9–2	6–5	4–7	—	7–4	7–4	7–5	4–8	6–6	7–4	5–6	5–6	5–6	12–3
Houston	4–7	9–3	7–5	6–5	4–7	—	7–4	8–3	7–4	4–7	6–6	6–5	3–8	9–3	4–11
Los Angeles	5–6	6–5	5–6	7–5	4–7	4–7	—	7–4	6–5	10–1	9–2	5–7	6–6	5–6	9–7
Montreal	2–10	7–4	5–6	4–7	5–7	3–8	4–7	—	5–7	6–6	5–6	8–3	6–5	6–5	12–3
New York	7–5	5–6	9–2	5–6	8–4	4–7	5–6	7–5	—	7–5	7–4	5–6	3–8	9–2	7–8
Philadelphia	2–10	5–6	3–8	7–4	6–6	7–4	1–10	6–6	5–7	—	5–6	7–4	3–8	6–5	5–10
Pittsburgh	6–5	5–7	4–8	7–4	4–7	6–6	2–9	6–5	4–7	6–5	—	5–6	8–3	9–3	7–8
San Diego	3–8	5–6	6–5	8–4	6–5	5–6	7–5	3–8	6–5	4–7	6–5	—	4–8	5–6	8–8
San Francisco	4–7	6–5	7–4	8–4	6–5	8–3	6–6	5–6	8–3	8–3	3–8	8–4	—	3–8	10–6
St. Louis	3–8	8–4	6–6	4–7	6–5	3–9	6–5	5–6	2–9	5–6	3–9	6–5	8–3	—	8–7

Notable transactions

June 3, 1997: 1997 Major League Baseball Draft
- Garrett Atkins was drafted by the Mets in the 10th round, but did not sign.^[8]
- Jeremy Guthrie was drafted by the Mets in the 15th round, but did not sign.^[9]
August 8, 1997: Lance Johnson and players to be named later were traded by the Mets to the Chicago Cubs for Brian McRae, Mel Rojas and Turk Wendell. The Mets completed the deal by sending Mark Clark to the Cubs on August 11 and Manny Alexander to the Cubs on August 14.^[10]

Roster

1997 New York Mets

Roster

Pitchers

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

2 Bobby Valentine

Coaches

34 Bob Apodaca (pitching)
20 Bruce Benedict (bench)
52 Randy Niemann (bullpen)
53 Tom Robson (hitting)
4 Cookie Rojas (third base)
51 Mookie Wilson (first base)

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
C	Todd Hundley	132	417	114	.273	30	86
1B	John Olerud	154	524	154	.294	22	102
2B	Carlos Baerga	133	467	131	.281	9	52
SS	Rey Ordóñez	120	356	77	.216	1	33
3B	Edgardo Alfonzo	151	518	163	.315	10	72
LF	Bernard Gilkey	145	518	129	.249	18	78
CF	Lance Johnson	72	265	82	.309	1	24
RF	Butch Huskey	142	471	135	.287	24	81

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
Carl Everett	142	443	110	.248	14	57
Alex Ochoa	113	238	58	.244	3	22
Luis López	78	178	48	.270	1	19
Matt Franco	112	163	45	.276	5	21
Manny Alexander	54	149	37	.248	2	15
Brian McRae	45	145	36	.248	5	15
Todd Pratt	39	106	30	.283	2	19
Steve Bieser	47	69	17	.246	0	4
Alberto Castillo	35	59	12	.203	0	7
Jason Hardtke	30	56	15	.268	2	8
Shawn Gilbert	29	22	3	.136	1	1
Roberto Petagine	12	15	1	.067	0	2
Carlos Mendoza	15	12	3	.250	0	1
Andy Tomberlin	6	7	2	.286	0	0
Gary Thurman	11	6	1	.167	0	0
Kevin Morgan	1	1	0	.000	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note; G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Rick Reed	33	208.1	13	9	2.89	113
Dave Mlicki	32	193.2	8	12	4.00	157
Bobby Jones	30	193.1	15	9	3.63	125
Mark Clark	23	142.0	8	7	4.25	72
Brian Bohanon	19	94.1	6	4	3.82	66
Armando Reynoso	16	91.1	6	3	4.53	47
Jason Isringhausen	6	29.2	2	2	7.58	25

Other pitchers

Note; G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Pete Harnisch	6	25.2	0	1	8.06	12

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
John Franco	59	5	3	36	2.55	53
Greg McMichael	73	7	10	7	2.98	81
Cory Lidle	54	7	2	2	3.53	54
Takashi Kashiwada	35	3	1	0	4.31	19
Juan Acevedo	25	3	1	0	3.59	33
Mel Rojas	23	0	2	2	5.13	32
Ricardo Jordan	22	1	2	0	5.33	19
Joe Crawford	19	4	3	0	3.30	25
Barry Manuel	19	0	1	0	5.26	21
Turk Wendell	13	0	0	1	4.96	10
Toby Borland	13	0	1	1	6.08	7
Ricky Trlicek	9	0	0	0	8.00	4
Yorkis Pérez	9	0	1	0	8.31	7

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Norfolk Tides	International League	Rick Dempsey
AA	Binghamton Mets	Eastern League	Rick Sweet
A	St. Lucie Mets	Florida State League	John Gibbons
A	Capital City Bombers	South Atlantic League	Doug Mansolino and John Stephenson
A-Short Season	Pittsfield Mets	New York–Penn League	Doug Davis
Rookie	Kingsport Mets	Appalachian League	Ken Berry
Rookie	GCL Mets	Gulf Coast League	Mickey Brantley and Doug Flynn

League champions: Pittsfield, GCL Mets^[11]

References

^ Paul Byrd page at Baseball Reference
^ Rico Brogna page at Baseball Reference
^ John Olerud page at Baseball Reference
^ Scott McClain page at Baseball Reference
^ ^a ^b Smith, Claire (April 16, 1997). "A Grand Tribute to Robinson and His Moment". New York Times. p. A1.
^ Olney, Buster (April 16, 1997). "Mets' Own Melting Pot Provides Victory Blend". New York Times. p. B14.
^ "Box Score of Game played on Monday, June 16, 1997 at Yankee Stadium".
^ Garrett Atkins page at Baseball Reference
^ Jeremy Guthrie page at Baseball Reference
^ Brian McRae page at Baseball Reference
^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

[1] Paul Byrd page at Baseball Reference

[2] Rico Brogna page at Baseball Reference

[3] John Olerud page at Baseball Reference

[4] Scott McClain page at Baseball Reference

[Robinson-5] Smith, Claire (April 16, 1997). "A Grand Tribute to Robinson and His Moment". New York Times. p. A1.

[6] Olney, Buster (April 16, 1997). "Mets' Own Melting Pot Provides Victory Blend". New York Times. p. B14.

[7] "Box Score of Game played on Monday, June 16, 1997 at Yankee Stadium".

[8] Garrett Atkins page at Baseball Reference

[9] Jeremy Guthrie page at Baseball Reference

[10] Brian McRae page at Baseball Reference

[11] Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

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