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1997 New York Mets
League National League
Division East
Ballpark Shea Stadium
CityNew York
Record88–74 (.543)
Divisional place3rd
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)
←  1996 Seasons 1998 →

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

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

NL East 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Atlanta Braves 101 61 0.623 — 50–31 51–30
Florida Marlins 92 70 0.568 9 52–29 40–41
New York Mets 88 74 0.543 13 50–31 38–43
Montreal Expos 78 84 0.481 23 45–36 33–48
Philadelphia Phillies 68 94 0.420 33 38–43 30–51

Record vs. opponents

1997 National League record

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 7–5
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

Roster

1997 New York Mets
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

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
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

See also: Minor League Baseball
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

  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
  5. ^ a b 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

External links

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