1997 Kansas City Royals season

1997 Kansas City Royals
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1969) Central Division (since 1994)
Location
Kauffman Stadium (since 1973) Kansas City, Missouri (since 1969)
Other information
Owner(s)	David Glass
General manager(s)	Herk Robinson
Manager(s)	Bob Boone and Tony Muser
Local television	KMBC-TV KCWB Fox Sports Rocky Mountain (Paul Splittorff, Bob Davis)
Local radio	WIBW (AM) (Denny Matthews, Fred White, John Wathan, Paul Splittorff)
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The 1997 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing 5th in the American League Central with a record of 67 wins and 94 losses.

Offseason[]

• October 28, 1996: Mike Bovee and Mark Gubicza were traded by the Royals to the Anaheim Angels for Chili Davis.^[1]
• December 13, 1996: Jeff Granger, Joe Randa, Jeff Wallace, and Jeff Martin (minors) were traded by the Royals to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Jay Bell and Jeff King.^[2]
• December 16, 1996: Scott Cooper was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[3]
• January 16, 1997: Ryan Thompson signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[4]
• January 28, 1997: Melvin Bunch was traded by the Royals to the Montreal Expos for Yamil Benítez.^[5]
• March 4, 1997: Doug Linton was released by the Royals.^[6]
• March 26, 1997: Ryan Thompson was released by the Royals.^[4]
• March 26, 1997: Bob Hamelin was released by the Royals.^[7]
• March 27, 1997: Michael Tucker and Keith Lockhart were traded to the Atlanta Braves for Jermaine Dye and Jamie Walker.^[8]

Regular season[]

Season standings[]

v t AL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	86	75	0.534	—	44–37	42–38
Chicago White Sox	80	81	0.497	6	45–36	35–45
Milwaukee Brewers	78	83	0.484	8	47–33	31–50
Minnesota Twins	68	94	0.420	18½	35–46	33–48
Kansas City Royals	67	94	0.416	19	33–47	34–47

Record vs. opponents[]

1997 American League Records v t Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
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 17, 1997: Todd Van Poppel was signed as a free agent by the Royals.^[9]
• June 6, 1997: Todd Van Poppel was released by the Royals.^[9]
• July 15, 1997: Chris Stynes and Jon Nunnally were traded by the Royals to the Cincinnati Reds for Héctor Carrasco and Scott Service.^[10]
• July 29, 1997: Matt Treanor was traded by the Royals to the Florida Marlins for Matt Whisenant.^[11]

Roster[]

1997 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers 17 Kevin Appier 41 Tim Belcher 47,57 Brian Bevil 27 Ricky Bones 58 Héctor Carrasco 45 Larry Casian 38 Jim Converse 52 Roland de la Maza 33 Chris Haney 45 Jason Jacome 56 Allen McDill 21 Jeff Montgomery 48 Gregg Olson 52 Mike Pérez 35 Hipólito Pichardo 34 Jim Pittsley 50 José Rosado 53 Glendon Rusch 49 José Santiago 46 Scott Service 51 Randy Veres 57 Jamie Walker 56 Matt Whisenant 46 Mike Williams 49 Mitch Williams		Catchers 26 Sal Fasano 15 Mike Macfarlane  2 Tim Spehr 63 Andy Stewart 29 Mike Sweeney Infielders 28 Jay Bell 14,16 Scott Cooper  2 Jed Hansen  6 David Howard  7 Jeff King 36 Félix Martínez 30 José Offerman 16 Dean Palmer 12 Craig Paquette 22 Larry Sutton		Outfielders 39 Yamil Benítez 18 Johnny Damon 24 Jermaine Dye 42 Tom Goodwin 43 Shane Halter 36 Ryan Long 31 Rod Myers 22 Jon Nunnally  1 Bip Roberts 32 Joe Vitiello Other batters 44 Chili Davis		Manager  8 Bob Boone Coaches 56 Rich Dauer (third base) 55 Guy Hansen 54 Bruce Kison 19 Greg Luzinski 39 Mitchell Page  9 Jamie Quirk (bench)

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

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
Rod Myers	31	101	26	.257	2	9

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

Farm system[]

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Omaha Royals	American Association	Mike Jirschele
AA	Wichita Wranglers	Texas League	Ron Johnson
A	Wilmington Blue Rocks	Carolina League	John Mizerock
A	Lansing Lugnuts	Midwest League	Bob Herold
A-Short Season	Spokane Indians	Northwest League	Jeff Garber
Rookie	GCL Royals	Gulf Coast League	Al Pedrique

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Lansing^[12]

References[]

• 1997 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 1997 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac