1997 Texas Rangers season

1997 Texas Rangers
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1961)
Western Division (since 1972)
Location
The Ballpark in Arlington (since 1994)
Arlington, Texas (since 1972)
Other information
Owner(s)	George W. Bush
General manager(s)	Doug Melvin
Manager(s)	Johnny Oates
Local television	KXTX-TV KXAS-TV Fox Sports Southwest (Mark Holtz, Tom Grieve, Bill Jones)
Local radio	KRLD (Eric Nadel, Brad Sham ) KMRT (Luis Mayoral, Josue Perez)
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The Texas Rangers 1997 season involved the Rangers finishing 3rd in the American League west with a record of 77 wins and 85 losses. Despite not making the playoffs the club would set an all-time attendance record of over 2.945 million fans, which would be the franchise's best until 2011.

On a somber note, the club would lose long-time radio broadcaster Mark Holtz to leukemia during the season; however, in his final game in May the Rangers won, allowing him to sign off one final time with his trademark "Hello Win Column!".

Offseason

December 10, 1996: Billy Ripken was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[1]
December 16, 1996: Scott Bailes was signed as a Free Agent with the Texas Rangers.^[2]
December 19, 1996: Mike Simms was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[3]
March 27, 1997: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Rangers from the Seattle Mariners.^[4]

Regular season

June 12, 1997: The first interleague game took place as the Texas Rangers hosted the San Francisco Giants at The Ballpark in Arlington (now Rangers Ballpark in Arlington).

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Seattle Mariners	90	72	0.556	—	45–36	45–36
Anaheim Angels	84	78	0.519	6	46–36	38–42
Texas Rangers	77	85	0.475	13	39–42	38–43
Oakland Athletics	65	97	0.401	25	35–46	30–51

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	—	4–7	6–5	6–5	7–4	5–6	6–5	7–4	4–7	4–7	11–1	6–6	8–4	6–5	4–12
Baltimore	7–4	—	5–7	5–6	6–5	6–6	7–4	5–6	10–1	8–4	8–3	7–4	10–1	6–6	8–7
Boston	5–6	7–5	—	3–8	6–5	5–7	3–8	8–3	8–3	4–8	7–4	7–4	3–8	6–6	6–9
Chicago	5–6	6–5	8–3	—	5–7	4–7	11–1	4–7	6–6	2–9	8–3	5–6	3–8	5–6	8–7
Cleveland	4–7	5–6	5–6	7–5	—	6–5	8–3	8–4	8–4	5–6	7–4	3–8	5–6	6–5	9–6
Detroit	6–5	6–6	7–5	7–4	5–6	—	6–5	4–7	4–7	2–10	7–4	4–7	7–4	6–6	8–7
Kansas City	5–6	4–7	8–3	1–11	3–8	5–6	—	6–6	7–5	3–8	3–8	5–6	6–5	5–6	6–9
Milwaukee	4–7	6–5	3–8	7–4	4–8	7–4	6–6	—	5–7	4–7	5–6	5–6	7–4	7–4	8–7
Minnesota	7–4	1–10	3–8	6–6	4–8	7–4	5–7	7–5	—	3–8	7–4	5–6	3–8	3–8	7–8
New York	7–4	4–8	8–4	9–2	6–5	10–2	8–3	7–4	8–3	—	6–5	4–7	7–4	7–5	5–10
Oakland	1–11	3–8	4–7	3–8	4–7	4–7	8–3	6–5	4–7	5–6	—	5–7	5–7	6–5	7–9
Seattle	6–6	4–7	4–7	6–5	8–3	7–4	6–5	6–5	6–5	7–4	7–5	—	8–4	8–3	7–9
Texas	4–8	1–10	8–3	8–3	6–5	4–7	5–6	4–7	8–3	4–7	7–5	4–8	—	4–7	10–6
Toronto	5–6	6–6	6–6	6–5	5–6	6–6	6–5	4–7	8–3	5–7	5–6	3–8	7–4	—	4–11

Notable transactions

April 16, 1997: Alex Diaz was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[5]
June 20, 1997: Todd Van Poppel was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.^[6]
July 29, 1997: Ken Hill was traded by the Rangers to the Anaheim Angels for Jim Leyritz and a player to be named later. The Angels completed the deal by sending Rob Sasser to the Rangers on October 31.^[7]

Draft Picks

June 3, 1997: Mike Lamb was drafted by the Rangers in the 7th round of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 6, 1997.^[8]

Roster

1997 Texas Rangers

Roster

Pitchers

48 José Alberro

58 Scott Bailes

33 John Burkett

46 Terry Clark

52 Bryan Eversgerd

53 Eric Gunderson

32 Rick Helling

55 Wilson Heredia

31 Xavier Hernandez

44 Ken Hill

45 Eric Moody

28 Darren Oliver

46 Danny Patterson

59 Roger Pavlik

60 Julio Santana

47 Tanyon Sturtze

52 Ed Vosberg

35 John Wetteland

27 Matt Whiteside

36 Bobby Witt

Catchers

6 Kevin Brown

13 Jim Leyritz

10 Henry Mercedes

7 Iván Rodríguez

Infielders

1 Domingo Cedeño

22 Will Clark

30 Hanley Frias

23 Benji Gil

3 Mark McLemore

16 Dean Palmer

9 Billy Ripken

14 Dave Silvestri

11 Lee Stevens

4 Fernando Tatís

Outfielders

2 Damon Buford

24 Mike Devereaux

14 Alex Diaz

19 Juan González

24 Tom Goodwin

29 Rusty Greer

21 Warren Newson

37 Marc Sagmoen

18 Mike Simms

Other batters

15 Mickey Tettleton

Manager

26 Johnny Oates

Coaches

17 Dick Bosman (Pitching)

20 Bucky Dent (Bench)

25 Larry Hardy (Bullpen)

8 Rudy Jaramillo (Hitting)

12 Ed Napoleon (First Base)

5 Jerry Narron (Third 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
1B	Clark, WillWill Clark	110	393	128	.326	12	51

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
Ripken, BillyBilly Ripken	71	203	56	.276	3	24
Simms, MikeMike Simms	59	111	28	.252	5	22
Diaz, AlexAlex Diaz	28	90	20	.222	2	12

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

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

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
Hernandez, XavierXavier Hernandez	44	0	4	0	4.56	36

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Oklahoma City 89ers	American Association	Greg Biagini
AA	Tulsa Drillers	Texas League	Bobby Jones
A	Charlotte Rangers	Florida State League	Butch Wynegar
Rookie	Pulaski Rangers	Appalachian League	Julio Cruz
Rookie	GCL Rangers	Gulf Coast League	Jim Byrd

References

↑ Billy Ripken at Baseball Reference
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bailesc01.shtml
↑ Mike Simms at Baseball Reference
↑ Dave Silvestri at Baseball Reference
↑ Alex Diaz at Baseball Reference
↑ Todd Van Poppel at Baseball Reference
↑ Ken Hill at Baseball Reference
↑ Mike Lamb at Baseball Reference

1997 Texas Rangers at Baseball Reference
1997 Texas Rangers at Baseball Almanac
Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (2007). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (3rd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-1-932391-17-6.

1997 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Detroit New York Toronto

AL Central	Chicago Cleveland Kansas City Milwaukee Minnesota

AL West	Anaheim Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Atlanta Florida Montréal New York Philadelphia

NL Central	Chicago Cincinnati Houston Pittsburgh St. Louis

NL West	Colorado Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

Texas Rangers

Formerly the Washington Senators
Based in Arlington, Texas (Dallas–Ft. Worth)

Franchise

Ballparks

Griffith Stadium RFK Stadium Arlington Stadium Globe Life Park in Arlington New Rangers Ballpark

Spring training	Pompano Beach Municipal Stadium Ranger Stadium Surprise Stadium

Culture and lore

Rivalries

Houston Astros

Retired numbers

Key personnel

Owners: Ray Davis & Bob R. Simpson
General Manager: Jon Daniels
Manager: Jeff Banister

Texas Rangers
Hall of Fame

Wild card berths (1)

2012

American League
West Division titles (6)

American League
championships (2)

2010
2011

Minor league affiliates

Seasons (56)

1960s	1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

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