1997 Seattle Mariners season

1997 Seattle Mariners
AL West Champions
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1977)
Western Division (since 1977)
Location
Kingdome (since 1977)
Seattle, Washington (since 1977)
Other information
Owner(s)	Hiroshi Yamauchi (represented by John Ellis)
General manager(s)	Woody Woodward
Manager(s)	Lou Piniella
Local television	KIRO-TV 7 Fox Sports Northwest
Local radio	KIRO 710 AM (Dave Niehaus, Chip Caray, Dave Valle, Dave Henderson, Rick Rizzs, Ron Fairly)
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The Seattle Mariners 1997 season was their 21st since the franchise creation, and ended the season finishing 1st in the American League West, finishing with a record of 90-72. For the second straight regular season, they led the AL in runs scored (925) and shattered the all-time record for most home runs hit by a team in one season (set at 257 by the Baltimore Orioles just one season earlier) with 264. Five Mariners scored at least 100 runs and six hit at least 20 home runs. In addition, the Mariners pitching staff struck out 1,207 batters during the regular season: more than any other AL team.

Offseason

• October 3, 1996: Ricky Jordan was released by the Seattle Mariners.^[1]
• November 12, 1996: Jalal Leach was signed as a Free Agent with the Seattle Mariners.^[2]
• November 15, 1996: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Seattle Mariners from the Montreal Expos.^[3]
• December 21, 1996: Josías Manzanillo was signed as a Free Agent with the Seattle Mariners.^[4]
• January 10, 1997: Brent Mayne was signed as a Free Agent with the Seattle Mariners.^[5]
• January 24, 1997: Mike Blowers was signed as a Free Agent with the Seattle Mariners.^[6]
• February 20, 1997: Dennis Martínez was signed as a Free Agent with the Seattle Mariners.^[7]
• March 27, 1997: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Texas Rangers from the Seattle Mariners.^[3]
• March 28, 1997: Brent Mayne was released by the Seattle Mariners.^[5]

Regular season

Ken Griffey, Jr., pictured in August 1997, won the Most Valuable Player award in 1997

In 1997, Randy Johnson set an American League record for left-handers by striking out nineteen batters in a 4-1 loss to the Oakland A's on June 24.^[8] On August 8 he matched the feat by setting down nineteen Chicago White Sox.^[8] Johnson posted a 20-4 record with 291 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.28. He finished second in the Cy Young balloting to Toronto's Roger Clemens.^[8]

Opening Day starters

• Jay Buhner
• Joey Cora
• Russ Davis
• Jeff Fassero
• Ken Griffey, Jr.
• Edgar Martínez
• Alex Rodriguez
• Paul Sorrento
• Lee Tinsley
• Dan Wilson^[9]

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 8, 1997: Steve Decker was signed as a Free Agent with the Seattle Mariners.^[10]
• May 24, 1997: Dennis Martínez was released by the Seattle Mariners.^[7]
• July 17, 1997: Josías Manzanillo was released by the Seattle Mariners.^[4]
• July 31, 1997: Heathcliff Slocumb was traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Seattle Mariners for Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek.
• July 31, 1997: Paul Spoljaric was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays with Mike Timlin to the Seattle Mariners for Jose Cruz.^[11]
• August 20, 1997: Roberto Kelly was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Seattle Mariners for players to be named later. The Seattle Mariners sent Joe Mays (October 9, 1997) and Jeromy Palki (minors) (October 9, 1997) to the Minnesota Twins to complete the trade.
• September 2, 1997: Steve Decker was released by the Seattle Mariners.^[10]

Roster

1997 Seattle Mariners
Roster
Pitchers 31 Bobby Ayala 22 Rafael Carmona 37 Norm Charlton 27 Ken Cloude 47 Tim Davis 13 Jeff Fassero 59 Mark Holzemer 39 Edwin Hurtado 51 Randy Johnson 41 Felipe Lira 36 Derek Lowe 20 Mike Maddux 41 Josías Manzanillo 32 Dennis Martínez 40 Greg McCarthy 50 Jamie Moyer 26 Omar Olivares 23 Scott Sanders 52 Heathcliff Slocumb 23 Paul Spoljaric 40 Mike Timlin 38 Salomón Torres 46 Bob Wells 33 Bob Wolcott		Catchers 17 John Marzano 43 Rick Wilkins  6 Dan Wilson Infielders 16 Mike Blowers 28 Joey Cora 18 Russ Davis 26 Álvaro Espinoza  9 Brent Gates 34 Giomar Guevara 11 Edgar Martínez 30 Brian Raabe  3 Alex Rodriguez 35 Dan Rohrmeier 12 Andy Sheets 44 Paul Sorrento		Outfielders  8 Rich Amaral 19 Jay Buhner 23 José Cruz, Jr. 29 Rob Ducey 24 Ken Griffey, Jr. 38 Raúl Ibáñez 10 Roberto Kelly  5 Lee Tinsley		Manager 14 Lou Piniella Coaches 54 Nardi Contreras  4 Lee Elia  7 John McLaren 49 Sam Mejías  2 Steve Smith 15 Matt Sinatro

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

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
Sanders, ScottScott Sanders	33	65.1	3	6	6.47	62

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

ALDS

Game 1

October 1, Kingdome

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Baltimore	0	0	1	0	4	4	0	0	0	9	13	0
Seattle	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	3	7	1
W: Mike Mussina (1-0)   L: Randy Johnson (0-1)  SV: None
HR: BAL – Gerónimo Berroa (1)   Chris Hoiles (1)   SEA – Edgar Martínez (1)   Jay Buhner (1)   Alex Rodriguez (1)

Game 2

October 2, Kingdome

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Baltimore	0	1	0	0	2	0	2	4	0	9	14	0
Seattle	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	3	9	0
W: Scott Erickson (1-0)   L: Jamie Moyer (0-1)  SV: None
HR: BAL – Harold Baines (1)   Brady Anderson (1)   SEA – None

Game 3

October 4, Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Seattle	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	4	11	0
Baltimore	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	5	0
W: Jeff Fassero (1-0)   L: Jimmy Key (0-1)  SV: None
HR: BAL – None   SEA – Jay Buhner (2)   Paul Sorrento (1)

Game 4

October 5, Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Seattle	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0
Baltimore	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	3	7	0
W: Mike Mussina (2-0)   L: Randy Johnson (0-2)  SV: Randy Myers (1)
HR: BAL – Jeff Reboulet (1)   Gerónimo Berroa (2)   SEA – Edgar Martínez (2)

Awards and honors

• The Mariners led the American League in home runs with 264^[12]

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tacoma Rainiers	Pacific Coast League	Dave Myers
AA	Memphis Chicks	Southern League	Dave Brundage
A	Lancaster Jethawks	California League	Rick Burleson
A	Wisconsin Timber Rattlers	Midwest League	Gary Varsho
A-Short Season	Everett AquaSox	Northwest League	Orlando Gómez
Rookie	AZL Mariners	Arizona League	Darrin Garner

^[13]

References

1. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jordari02.shtml
2. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/leachja01.shtml
3. http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/silveda01.shtml
4. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/manzajo01.shtml
5. http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/maynebr01.shtml
6. Mike Blowers Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
7. http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/martide01.shtml
8. The Ballplayers – Randy Johnson | BaseballLibrary.com
9. 1997 Seattle Mariners Roster by Baseball Almanac
10. Steve Decker Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
11. Paul Spoljaric Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
12. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.380, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
13. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

• 1997 Seattle Mariners
• 1997 Seattle Mariners team page at www.baseball-almanac.com