1997 St. Louis Cardinals season

The St. Louis Cardinals 1997 season was the team's 116th season in St. Louis, Missouri and the 106th season in the National League. The Cardinals went 73-89 during the season and finished 4th in the National League Central division, 11 games behind the Houston Astros.

1997 St. Louis Cardinals
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record73–89 (.451)
Divisional place4th
Other information
OwnersWilliam DeWitt, Jr.
General managersWalt Jocketty
ManagersTony La Russa
Local televisionFox Sports Midwest
KPLR
(Al Hrabosky, Bob Carpenter, Joe Buck, Bob Ramsey, Ozzie Smith, Rich Gould)
Local radioKMOX
(Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, Joe Buck)
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Offseason
  • December 4, 1996: Willie McGee was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals.[1]
  • December 6, 1996: Tom Pagnozzi was signed as a free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals.[2]

Regular season

Season standings
NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Houston Astros 8478 0.519 — 46–35 38–43
Pittsburgh Pirates 7983 0.488 5 43–38 36–45
Cincinnati Reds 7686 0.469 8 40–41 36–45
St. Louis Cardinals 7389 0.451 11 41–40 32–49
Chicago Cubs 6894 0.420 16 42–39 26–55

Record vs. opponents
1997 National League record

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LA MTL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Atlanta—9–29–25–64–87–46–510–25–710–25–68–37–48–37–5
Chicago2–9—7–52–92–93–95–64–76–56–57–56–55–64–89–6
Cincinnati2–95–7—5–65–65–76–56–52–98–38–45–64–76–69–6
Colorado 6–59–26–5—7–45–65–77–46–54–74–74–84–87–49–7
Florida8–49–26–54–7—7–47–47–54–86–67–45–65–65–612–3
Houston4–79–37–56–54–7—7–48–37–44–76–66–53–89–34–11
Los Angeles 5–66–55–67–54–74–7—7–46–510–19–25–76–65–69–7
Montreal2–107–45–64–75–73–84–7—5–76–65–68–36–56–512–3
New York7–55–69–25–68–44–75–67–5—7–57–45–63–89–27–8
Philadelphia2-105–63–87–46–67–41–106–65–7—5–67–43–86–55–10
Pittsburgh6–55–74–87–44–76–62–96–54–76–5—5–68–39–37–8
San Diego3–85–66–58–46–55–67–53–86–54–76–5—4–85–68–8
San Francisco4–76–57–48–46–58–36–65–68–38–33–88–4—3–810–6
St. Louis3–88–46–64–76–53-96–55–62–95–63–96–58–3—8–7

Roster
1997 St. Louis Cardinals
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Transactions

The Trade

The beginning came on July 31, when the Cardinals acquired Mark McGwire from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for relief pitcher T.J. Mathews and minor league pitchers Eric Ludwick and Blake Stein. McGwire could have been a free agent at the end of the season.

McGwire had 34 home runs and 81 RBIs with Oakland at the time of the trade, which reunited him with former Athletics manager Tony La Russa. The Cardinals were considered to have little chance of keeping him with the club beyond the final two months of the season. But general manager Walt Jocketty's deal figured to inject some excitement into a dull close to the season, since the Cardinals were far out of the race. They had begun their freefall in early July when left fielder Ron Gant had failed to make a routine catch which would have given the Cardinals a victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not only did the Pirates rally for that victory, but they also ended up sweeping the four-game series, knocking the Cardinals out of first place, and sending them reeling.

McGwire hadn't expected to stay with Oakland, but he also didn't think he would end up with the Cardinals.

McGwire's Impact

The team was in the throes of a slump when their new first baseman arrived. On August 10, the Cardinals had lost 11 of their last 14 games. They had scored a total of 58 runs scored in their 21 previous games at that point.

McGwire struggled to hit anything at first but had four home runs with his new team in less than two weeks, including two in an August 13 game that featured a 455-foot dinger, one of the longest in Busch Stadium history.

September Booms

On September 3, the same day pitcher Alan Benes underwent rotate cuff surgery, McGwire hit the first Busch Stadium home run that was measured at more than 500 feet-504 feet, to be exact-hit on a pitch from Jaime Navarro of the Chicago White Sox.

A week later, he hit his 16th homer since joining the Cardinals but his 50th overall for the season, making him only the second man in baseball history-Babe Ruth did it twice-to reach the 50-homer mark in successive seasons

McGwire's biggest blasts might have come on September 17. That afternoon, the Cardinals announced they had signed him to a three-year, $28.5 million contract with an option for a fourth season at $11 million. He announced at the news conference that part of the deal included the formation of a charitable foundation to fight sexual and physical abuse of children, a fight strengthened by his donation of $1 million a year. McGwire choked up and wiped away tears as he talked of that cause, something close to his heart because of a close friend who had suffered such abuse.

He had decided to stay in St. Louis, McGwire said, because of the overwhelming affection shown him by Cardinals fans. Never did he feel it so much as when he stepped to the plate for his first at bat after signing his contract that day. With Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ramón Hernández on the mound at Busch, the crowd of 27,157 fans stood for a standing ovation at the announcement of McGwire's name. No one stopped cheering as Martinez threw ball one, then ball two, strike one and ball three. They all remained on their feet and screaming as Martinez fired the fifth pitch of the at bat, which McGwire hit 517 feet for the then-longest home run in stadium history, an upper-deck shot over the left-field scoreboard. it was McGwire's fifth homer of more than 500 feet that season and his 18th home run since joining the Cardinals 48 days earlier.

With two homers on the second-to-last day of the season and one more in the season finale. McGwire ended with 24 homers in the Cardinals uniform and 58 overall for the season. That was a single-season for a right-handed batter and fueled a winter of speculation that he might be the chosen one to break Roger Maris's hallowed record.

Player stats

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
CMike Difelice9326062.238430
1BDmitri Young11033386.258534
2BDelino DeShields150572169.2951158
SSRoyce Clayton154576153.266961
3BGary Gaetti148502126.2511769
LFRon Gant139502115.2291762
CFRay Lankford133465137.2953198
RFJohn Mabry116388110.284536

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
Willie McGee12230090.300338
Tom Lampkin10822956.245722
Mark McGwire5117444.2532442
Brian Jordan4714534.234010
David Bell6614230.211112
Danny Sheaffer7613233.250011
Phil Plantier4211329.257518
Mark Sweeney446113.21304
Tom Pagnozzi255011.22018
Eli Marrero174511.24427
Mike Gallego27437.16301
Scott Livingstone42417.17103
Micah Franklin173411.32422
Scarborough Green20313.09701
Luis Ordaz12226.27301
Roberto Mejía7141.07102
Steve Scarsone5101.10000
Mike Gulan590.00001
Jeff Berblinger750.00000

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
Matt Morris33217.01293.19149
Todd Stottlemyre28181.01293.88160
Andy Benes26177.01073.10175
Alan Benes23161.2992.89160
Donovan Osborne1480.1374.9351
Manny Aybar1268.0244.2441
Fernando Valenzuela522.2045.5610
Danny Jackson418.2127.7113
Mike Busby314.1028.796

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
Brady Raggio1531.1126.8921
Sean Lowe617.1029.358

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
Dennis Eckersley5715363.9145
Tony Fossas712703.8341
John Frascatore595202.4858
Mark Petkovsek554725.0651
T.J. Mathews404402.1546
Rigo Beltrán351213.4850
Curtis King304202.7613
Lance Painter141104.7611
José Bautista110006.574
Rich Batchelor101104.508
Eric Ludwick50109.457
Rick Honeycutt200013.502
Tom McGraw20000.000
Gary Gaetti10000.000

Awards and honors
  • St. Louis Baseball Man of the Year: Ray Lankford
  • Mark McGwire, Major League record, 1st player to lead the Major Leagues in Home Runs but not lead the American League or National League in home runs[8]

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Louisville Redbirds American Association Gaylen Pitts
AA Arkansas Travelers Texas League Rick Mahler
A Prince William Cannons Carolina League Roy Silver
A Peoria Chiefs Midwest League Joe Cunningham, Jr.
A-Short Season New Jersey Cardinals New York–Penn League Jeff Shireman
Rookie Johnson City Cardinals Appalachian League Steve Turco

[9]

References
  1. Willie McGee at Baseball-Reference
  2. "Tom Pagnozzi Stats".
  3. Rick Ankiel at Baseball-Reference
  4. Xavier Nady at Baseball-Reference
  5. José Rodríguez at Baseball-Reference
  6. Mark Sweeney at Baseball-Reference
  7. Mike Gallego at Baseball-Reference
  8. Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.372, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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