1997 Texas Rangers season

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1997 Texas Rangers
Major League affiliations
Location
  • The Ballpark in Arlington (since 1994)
  • Arlington, Texas (since 1972)
Results
Record77–85 (.475)
Divisional place3rd
Other information
Owner(s)George W. Bush
General manager(s)Doug Melvin
Manager(s)Johnny Oates
Local televisionKXTX-TV
KXAS-TV
Fox Sports Southwest
(Mark Holtz, Tom Grieve, Bill Jones)
Local radioKRLD
(Eric Nadel, Brad Sham )
KMRT
(Luis Mayoral, Josue Perez)
< Previous season     Next season >

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 Globe Life Park).

Opening Day starters[]

Mark McLemore, 2B

Iván Rodríguez, C

Rusty Greer, LF

Dean Palmer, 3B

Lee Stevens, 1B

Mickey Tettleton, DH

Warren Newson, RF

Damon Buford, CF

Benji Gil, SS

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
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
  • 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 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[]

Roster[]

1997 Texas Rangers
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

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
1B Will 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
Billy Ripken 71 203 56 .276 3 24
Mike Simms 59 111 28 .252 5 22
Alex 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
Xavier Hernandez 44 0 4 0 4.56 36

Awards and honors[]

All-Star Game

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
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[]

  1. ^ Billy Ripken at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ "Scott Bailes Stats".
  3. ^ Mike Simms at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Dave Silvestri at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Alex Diaz at Baseball Reference
  6. ^ Todd Van Poppel at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Ken Hill at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ 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.
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