The 1997 San Diego Padres season was the 29th season in franchise history. The Padres finished last in the National League West. Right fielder (and future Hall of Famer) Tony Gwynn had the highest batting average in the majors, at .372.

In April, the Padres played three home games at the Aloha Stadium in Hawaii against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won the opening two games (a doubleheader) on April 19, winning the first 1-0 and the second 2-1 before the Padres won game 3 on Sunday April 20 by a score of 8–2. Reported attendances were 37,382 (games 1 and 2) and 40,050 (game 3).

Regular season

Transactions June 13, 1997: Fernando Valenzuela was traded by the San Diego Padres with Scott Livingstone and Phil Plantier to the St. Louis Cardinals for Rich Batchelor, Danny Jackson, and Mark Sweeney. August 13, 1997: Rickey Henderson was traded by the San Diego Padres to the Anaheim Angels for a player to be named later, Ryan Hancock, and Stevenson Agosto (minors). The Anaheim Angels sent George Arias (August 19, 1997) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster 1997 San Diego Padres Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders Manager

Coaches (bullpen) (third base) (first base) (bench) (hitting) (pitching)

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 129 439 120 .273 9 46 1B 135 455 149 .327 13 83 2B 145 539 143 .265 3 45 SS 150 522 132 .253 5 54 3B 137 486 141 .290 26 90 LF 120 361 78 .216 18 57 CF 143 560 146 .261 28 92 RF 149 592 220 .372 17 119

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 88 288 79 .274 6 27 Archi Cianfrocco 89 220 54 .245 4 26 Chris Jones 92 152 37 .243 7 25 Craig Shipley 63 139 38 .273 5 19 Carlos Hernández 50 134 42 .313 3 14 Mark Sweeney 71 103 33 .320 2 19 Trey Beamon 43 65 18 .277 0 7 Derrek Lee 22 54 14 .259 1 4 Mandy Romero 21 48 10 .208 2 4 Terry Shumpert 13 33 9 .273 1 6 Jorge Velandia 14 29 3 .103 0 0 Scott Livingstone 23 26 4 .154 0 3 George Arias 11 22 5 .227 0 2 Don Slaught 20 20 0 .000 0 0 Rubén Rivera 17 20 5 .250 0 1 Phil Plantier 10 8 1 .125 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 30 200.2 9 11 4.13 144 31 192.2 12 7 4.25 124 32 161.0 10 11 5.20 106 Fernando Valenzuela 13 66.1 2 8 4.75 51 Paul Menhart 9 44.0 2 3 4.70 22

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 Smith 37 118.0 7 6 4.81 68 Tim Worrell 60 106.1 4 8 5.16 81 Sean Bergman 44 99.0 2 4 6.09 74 Will Cunnane 54 91.1 6 3 5.81 79 Danny Jackson 13 49.0 1 7 7.53 19 Heath Murray 17 33.1 1 2 6.75 16

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 70 6 4 37 2.66 111 Doug Bochtler 54 3 6 2 4.77 46 Jim Bruske 28 4 1 0 3.63 32 Dario Veras 23 2 1 0 5.11 21 Tim Scott 14 1 1 0 7.85 14 Rich Batchelor 13 2 0 0 7.82 10 Terry Burrows 13 0 2 0 10.45 8 Marc Kroon 12 0 1 0 6.35 12 Todd Erdos 11 2 0 0 5.27 13 Joey Long 10 0 0 0 8.18 8

League Honors

All-Stars Ken Caminiti, starting 3B Steve Finley Tony Gwynn, starting DH

Awards Gold Glove: Ken Caminiti (3B) Silver Slugger Award: Tony Gwynn (OF)

Statistical leaders Tony Gwynn: Batting Champion (.372)

Farm system

Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

References

External links 1997 San Diego Padres at Baseball Reference 1997 San Diego Padres at Baseball Almanac