1997 Texas Rangers season

The 1997 Texas Rangers season was the 37th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 26th in Arlington as the Rangers, and their 4th season at The Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers finished third 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.

1997 Texas Rangers
League	American League
Division	West
Ballpark	The Ballpark in Arlington
City	Arlington, Texas
Record	77–85 (.475)
Divisional place	3rd
Owners	George W. Bush
General managers	Doug Melvin
Managers	Johnny Oates
Television	KXTX-TV KXAS-TV Fox Sports Southwest (Mark Holtz, Tom Grieve, Bill Jones)
Radio	KRLD (Eric Nadel, Brad Sham ) KMRT (Luis Mayoral, Josue Perez)
Seasons

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.
• December 16, 1996: Scott Bailes was signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.
• December 19, 1996: Mike Simms was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
• March 27, 1997: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Rangers from the Seattle Mariners.

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

AL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Seattle Mariners	90	72	.556	—	45‍–‍36	45‍–‍36
Anaheim Angels	84	78	.519	6	46‍–‍36	38‍–‍42
Texas Rangers	77	85	.475	13	39‍–‍42	38‍–‍43
Oakland Athletics	65	97	.401	25	35‍–‍46	30‍–‍51

Record vs. opponents

1997 American League record 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.
• June 20, 1997: Todd Van Poppel was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
• 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.

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.

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
C	Iván Rodríguez	150	597	187	.313	20	77
1B	Will Clark	110	393	128	.326	12	51
2B	Mark McLemore	89	349	91	.261	1	25
SS	Benji Gil	110	317	71	.224	5	31
3B	Dean Palmer	94	355	87	.245	14	55
LF	Rusty Greer	157	601	193	.321	26	87
CF	Damon Buford	122	366	82	.224	8	39
RF	Warren Newson	81	169	36	.213	10	23
DH	Juan González	133	533	158	.296	42	131

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
Lee Stevens	137	426	128	.300	21	74
Domingo Cedeño	113	365	103	.282	4	36
Fernando Tatis	60	223	57	.256	8	29
Tom Goodwin	53	207	49	.237	0	17
Billy Ripken	71	203	56	.276	3	24
Mike Simms	59	111	28	.252	5	22
Alex Diaz	28	90	20	.222	2	12
Jim Leyritz	37	85	24	.282	0	14
Mike Devereaux	29	72	15	.208	0	7
Henry Mercedes	23	47	10	.213	0	4
Mickey Tettleton	17	44	4	.091	3	4
Marc Sagmoen	21	43	6	.140	1	4
Hanley Frias	14	26	5	.192	0	1
Kevin Brown	4	5	2	.400	1	1
Dave Silvestri	2	4	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
Bobby Witt	34	209.0	12	12	4.82	121
Darren Oliver	32	201.1	13	12	4.20	104
John Burkett	30	189.1	9	12	4.56	139
Ken Hill	19	111.0	5	8	5.19	68
Roger Pavlik	11	57.2	3	5	4.37	35
Rick Helling	10	55.0	3	3	4.58	46

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
Julio Santana	30	104.0	4	6	6.75	64
Tanyon Sturtze	9	32.2	1	1	8.27	18
Terry Clark	9	30.2	1	4	5.87	11
Jose Alberro	10	28.1	0	3	7.94	11

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 Wetteland	61	7	2	31	1.94	63
Eric Gunderson	60	2	1	1	3.26	31
Danny Patterson	54	10	6	1	3.42	69
Xavier Hernandez	44	0	4	0	4.56	36
Matt Whiteside	42	4	1	0	5.08	44
Ed Vosberg	42	1	2	0	4.61	29
Scott Bailes	24	1	0	0	2.86	14
Wilson Heredia	10	1	0	0	3.20	8
Eric Moody	10	0	1	0	4.26	12
Bryan Eversgerd	3	0	2	0	20.25	2

Awards and honors

• Juan González, Silver Slugger Award
• Iván Rodríguez, C, Gold Glove
• Iván Rodríguez, Silver Slugger Award

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

• 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.