1997 Toronto Blue Jays season

The 1997 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's 21st 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.

1997 Toronto Blue Jays
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record76–86 (.469)
Divisional place5th
Other information
Owner(s)Interbrew,
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
General manager(s)Gord Ash
Manager(s)Cito Gaston, Mel Queen
Local televisionCBC Television
(Brian Williams, John Cerutti)
The Sports Network
(Dan Shulman, Buck Martinez)
Local radioCJCL (AM)
(Jerry Howarth, Tom Cheek)
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Offseason

  • October 2, 1996: Dane Johnson was selected off waivers by the Oakland Athletics from the Toronto Blue Jays.[1]
  • November 14, 1996: Dan Plesac was traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Carlos Garcia and Orlando Merced to the Toronto Blue Jays for players to be named later, José Silva, Brandon Cromer (minors), and Jose Pett (minors). The Toronto Blue Jays sent Mike Halperin (minors) (December 11, 1996), Abraham Nunez (December 11, 1996), and Craig Wilson (December 11, 1996) to the Pittsburgh Pirates to complete the trade.[2]
  • November 27, 1996: Jeff Ware was selected off waivers by the Milwaukee Brewers from the Toronto Blue Jays.[3]
  • December 9, 1996: Benito Santiago signed as a Free Agent with the Toronto Blue Jays.
  • December 13, 1996: Roger Clemens signed as a Free Agent with the Toronto Blue Jays.[4]
  • December 18, 1996: Juan Samuel was signed as a Free Agent with the Toronto Blue Jays.[5]
  • December 20, 1996: John Olerud was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays with cash to the New York Mets for Robert Person.[6]

Regular season

Opening Day starters

  • Joe Carter
  • Carlos Delgado
  • Carlos Garcia
  • Alex Gonzalez
  • Shawn Green
  • Pat Hentgen
  • Orlando Merced
  • Otis Nixon
  • Benito Santiago
  • Ed Sprague[7]

Interleague Play

  • June 30 – The first interleague game between the Montreal Expos and the Toronto Blue Jays took place at SkyDome. The Expos won the game by a score of 2-1.[8]

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 9864 0.605 46–35 52–29
New York Yankees 9666 0.593 2 47–33 49–33
Detroit Tigers 7983 0.488 19 42–39 37–44
Boston Red Sox 7884 0.481 20 39–42 39–42
Toronto Blue Jays 7686 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 4–76–56–57–45–66–57–44–74–711–16–68–46–54–12
Baltimore 7–45–75–66–56–67–45–610–18–48–37–410–16–68–7
Boston 5–67–53–86–55–73–88–38–34–87–47–43–86–66–9
Chicago 5–66–58–35–74–711–14–76–62–98–35–63–85–68–7
Cleveland 4–75–65–67–56–58–38–48–45–67–43–85–66–59–6
Detroit 6–56–67–57–45–66–54–74–72–107–44–77–46–68–7
Kansas City 5–64–78–31–113–85–66–67–53–83–85–66–55–66–9
Milwaukee 4–76–53–87–44–87–46–65–74–75–65–67–47–48–7
Minnesota 7–41–103–86–64–87–45–77–53–87–45–63–83–87–8
New York 7–44–88–49–26–510–28–37–48–36–54–77–47–55–10
Oakland 1–113–84–73–84–74–78–36–54–75–65–75–76–57–9
Seattle 6–64–74–76–58–37–46–56–56–57–47–58–48–37–9
Texas 4–81–108–38–36–54–75–64–78–34–77–54–84–710–6
Toronto 5–66–66–66–55–66–66–54–78–35–75–63–87–44–11

Notable transactions

  • May 11, 1997: Rubén Sierra was signed as a Free Agent with the Toronto Blue Jays.[9]
  • June 3, 1997: Orlando Hudson was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 43rd round of the 1997 amateur draft. Player signed May 20, 1998.[10]
  • June 5, 1997: Ryan Thompson was traded by the Cleveland Indians to the Toronto Blue Jays for Jeff Manto.[11]
  • June 16, 1997: Rubén Sierra was released by the Toronto Blue Jays.[9]
  • July 25, 1997: Omar Daal was selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays from the Montreal Expos.[12]
  • July 29, 1997: Mariano Duncan was traded by the New York Yankees with cash to the Toronto Blue Jays for Angel Ramirez (minors).[13]
  • July 31, 1997: Paul Spoljaric was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays with Mike Timlin to the Seattle Mariners for Jose Cruz.[14]
  • August 8, 1997: Tilson Brito was selected off waivers by the Oakland Athletics from the Toronto Blue Jays.[15]
  • August 12, 1997: Otis Nixon was traded by the Toronto Blue Jays to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bobby Cripps (minors).[16]

Roster

1997 Toronto Blue Jays
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders
  • 23 José Cruz, Jr.

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 Santiago97341831342.243
Carlos Delgado1535191363091.262
Carlos García10335077323.220
Ed Sprague1385041151448.228
Alex Gonzalez1264261021235.239
José Cruz, Jr.55212491434.231
Otis Nixon103401105126.262
Orlando Merced9836898940.266
Joe Carter15761214321102.234

[17]

Other batters

Player G AB H HR RBI Avg.
Shawn Green1354291231653.287
Charlie O'Brien6922549427.218
Jacob Brumfield5817436220.207
Shannon Stewart4416848022.286
Mariano Duncan3916738012.228
Tilson Brito491262808.222
Tomás Pérez401232409.195
Juan Samuel459527315.284
Robert Perez37781526.192
Rubén Sierra14481015.208
Tom Evans12381112.289
Felipe Crespo1228815.286
Rich Butler714402.286
Julio Mosquera38200.250
Sandy Martínez32000.000

[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

  • Roger Clemens, Pitcher of the Month Award, May
  • Roger Clemens, Pitcher of the Month Award, August
  • Roger Clemens, Cy Young Award
  • Roger Clemens, MLB Leader, 21 Wins
  • Roger Clemens, AL Strikeout Crown, 292 Strikeouts
  • Roger Clemens, AL ERA Crown, 2.05
  • Roger Clemens, American League Leader, Complete Games (9)
  • Roger Clemens, American League Leader, Shutouts (3)
  • Roger Clemens, American League Leader, Innings Pitched (264)

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. https://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. Rubén Sierra Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  10. Orlando Hudson Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  11. Ryan Thompson Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  12. https://www.baseball-reference.com/d/daalom01.shtml
  13. Mariano Duncan Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  14. Paul Spoljaric Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  15. https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/britoti01.shtml
  16. Otis Nixon Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  17. 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
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