1997 Toronto Blue Jays season

1997 Toronto Blue Jays
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Interbrew,
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
General manager(s) Gord Ash
Manager(s) Cito Gaston, Mel Queen
Local television CBC Television
(Brian Williams, John Cerutti)
The Sports Network
(Dan Shulman, Buck Martinez)
Local radio CJCL (AM)
(Jerry Howarth, Tom Cheek)
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The 1997 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's twenty-first season of Major League Baseball. It resulted in the Blue Jays finishing fifth in the American League East with a record of 76 wins and 86 losses. With a massive re-design of their logos and uniforms, the Blue Jays attempted to re-establish themselves in the American League East by signing Roger Clemens via Free Agency and bringing All-Stars Carlos García and Orlando Merced through trade. Although Clemens rejuvenated himself with the Blue Jays (en route to one of the best-ever single seasons by a starting pitcher, winning the Cy Young Award and the pitchers' triple crown), both Garcia and Merced ended up being flops as dismal overall hitting and an inconsistent bullpen doomed the Blue Jays once again to a last-place finish. 1997 also marked the end of the road for manager Cito Gaston, being fired near the end of the season (Gaston would eventually return to the team in 2008). Longtime fan-favourite Joe Carter also played in his final season for the Blue Jays, as he was released at the end of the season.

Offseason

Regular season

Opening Day starters

Interleague Play

Expos vs. Jays

June 30, SkyDome, Toronto, Ontario

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Montreal 010 001 000 260
Toronto 000 000 100 130
W: Pedro Martínez (10-3)  L: Pat Hentgen (8-5)  
Home Runs: Vladimir Guerrero (4), Carlos Delgado (15) Attendance: 37,430 Time: 2:03

Batting

Montreal Expos AB R H RBI Toronto Blue Jays AB R H RBI
Grudzielanek, ss 3 1 1 0 Nixon cf 4 0 1 0
Lansing 2b 4 0 0 0 Merced dh 4 0 0 0
Santangelo 3b 4 0 0 0 Carter lf 4 0 0 0
Segui 1b 3 0 2 1 Delgado 1b 2 1 1 1
Rodriguez lf 4 0 0 0 Sprague 3b 3 0 0 0
Orsulak lf 0 0 0 0 Green rf 3 0 0 0
Guerrero rf 4 1 2 1 Santiago c 3 0 0 0
McGuire dh 3 0 0 0 Gonzalez ss 3 0 1 0
White cf 3 0 0 0 Garcia 2b 3 0 0 0
Widger c 3 0 1 0 NONE 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 2 6 2 Totals 29 1 3 1

Pitching

Montreal Expos IP H R ER BB SO
Martinez W (10-3) 9.0 3 1 1 1 10
Totals 9.0 3 1 1 1 10
Toronto Blue Jays IP H R ER BB SO
Hentgen L (8-5) 9.0 6 2 2 1 3
Totals 9.0 6 2 2 1 3

Canada Day Game

The Blue Jays and Expos played to a sold-out Skydome crowd on Canada Day. Legendary Roger Clemens would get the start as the Blue Jays donned red uniforms for the second time. Montreal pitcher Jeff Juden would have a no-hitter through the first six innings until Joe Carter would hit a dramatic home run to break Juden's bid for a no-hitter.

Season standings

AL East W L Pct. GB Home Road
Baltimore Orioles 98 64 0.605 — 46–35 52–29
New York Yankees 96 66 0.593 2 47–33 49–33
Detroit Tigers 79 83 0.488 19 42–39 37–44
Boston Red Sox 78 84 0.481 20 39–42 39–42
Toronto Blue Jays 76 86 0.469 22 42–39 34–47

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

Roster

1997 Toronto Blue Jays
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Manager

Coaches

Game log

1997 Game Log

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H HR RBI Avg.
Benito Santiago 97 341 83 13 42 .243
Carlos Delgado 153 519 136 30 91 .262
Carlos García 103 350 77 3 23 .220
Ed Sprague 138 504 115 14 48 .228
Gonzalez, AlexAlex Gonzalez 126 426 102 12 35 .239
José Cruz, Jr. 55 212 49 14 34 .231
Otis Nixon 103 401 105 1 26 .262
Orlando Merced 98 368 98 9 40 .266
Joe Carter 157 612 143 21 102 .234

[17]

Other batters

Player G AB H HR RBI Avg.
Shawn Green 135 429 123 16 53 .287
Charlie O’Brien 69 225 49 4 27 .218
Jacob Brumfield 58 174 36 2 20 .207
Shannon Stewart 44 168 48 0 22 .286
Mariano Duncan 39 167 38 0 12 .228
Tilson Brito 49 126 28 0 8 .222
Tomás Pérez 40 123 24 0 9 .195
Juan Samuel 45 95 27 3 15 .284
Robert Perez 37 78 15 2 6 .192
Rubén Sierra 14 48 10 1 5 .208
Tom Evans 12 38 11 1 2 .289
Felipe Crespo 12 28 8 1 5 .286
Rich Butler 7 14 4 0 2 .286
Julio Mosquera 3 8 2 0 0 .250
Sandy Martínez 3 2 0 0 0 .000

[17]

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO

Other pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA
Relief pitchers
Player G W L SV ERA SO

Award winners

All-Star Game

[18]

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Syracuse SkyChiefs International League Garth Iorg
AA Knoxville Smokies Southern League Omar Malavé
A Dunedin Blue Jays Florida State League Dennis Holmberg
A Hagerstown Suns South Atlantic League J. J. Cannon
A-Short Season St. Catharines Stompers New York–Penn League Rocket Wheeler
Rookie Medicine Hat Blue Jays Pioneer League Marty Pevey

[19]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/j/johnsda05.shtml
  2. ↑ Dan Plesac Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  3. ↑ Jeff Ware Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. ↑ Roger Clemens Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  5. ↑ Juan Samuel Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  6. ↑ John Olerud Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  7. ↑ http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1997&t=TOR
  8. ↑ http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/schedule.php?y=1997&t=TOR
  9. 1 2 Rubén Sierra Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  10. ↑ Orlando Hudson Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  11. ↑ Ryan Thompson Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  12. ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/daalom01.shtml
  13. ↑ Mariano Duncan Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  14. ↑ Paul Spoljaric Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  15. ↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/britoti01.shtml
  16. ↑ Otis Nixon Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  17. 1 2 1997 Toronto Blue Jays Statistics and Roster Baseball-Reference.com
  18. ↑ Blue Jays All-Stars | bluejays.com: History
  19. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

Preceded by
1996 Toronto Blue Jays season		 1997 Toronto Blue Jays Season
1997 		Succeeded by
1998 Toronto Blue Jays season
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