1997 San Diego Padres season

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.

1997 San Diego Padres
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	Qualcomm Stadium
City	San Diego, California
Record	76–86 (.469)
Divisional place	4th
Owners	John Moores
General managers	Kevin Towers
Managers	Bruce Bochy
Television	KUSI-TV 4SD (Mark Grant, Mel Proctor, Rick Sutcliffe, Glenn Geffner)
Radio	KFMB (AM) (Jerry Coleman, Ted Leitner, Bob Chandler, Glenn Geffner)
← 1996 Seasons 1998 →

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^[1] and the second 2-1^[2] before the Padres won game 3 on Sunday April 20 by a score of 8-2.^[3] Reported attendances were 37,382 (games 1 and 2)^[2] and 40,050 (game 3).^[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

• v
• t
• e

NL West

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
San Francisco Giants	90	72	.556	—	48‍–‍33	42‍–‍39
Los Angeles Dodgers	88	74	.543	2	47‍–‍34	41‍–‍40
Colorado Rockies	83	79	.512	7	47‍–‍34	36‍–‍45
San Diego Padres	76	86	.469	14	39‍–‍42	37‍–‍44

Record vs. opponents

1997 National League record Source: MLB Standings Grid – 1997 v t e
Team	ATL	CHC	CIN	COL	FLA	HOU	LAD	MTL	NYM	PHI	PIT	SD	SF	STL	AL
Atlanta	—	9–2	9–2	5–6	4–8	7–4	6–5	10–2	5–7	10–2	5–6	8–3	7–4	8–3	8–7
Chicago	2–9	—	7–5	2–9	2–9	3–9	5–6	4–7	6–5	6–5	7–5	6–5	5–6	4–8	9–6
Cincinnati	2–9	5–7	—	5–6	5–6	5–7	6–5	6–5	2–9	8–3	8–4	5–6	4–7	6–6	9–6
Colorado	6–5	9–2	6–5	—	7–4	5–6	5–7	7–4	6–5	4–7	4–7	4–8	4–8	7–4	9–7
Florida	8–4	9–2	6–5	4–7	—	7–4	7–4	7–5	4–8	6–6	7–4	5–6	5–6	5–6	12–3
Houston	4–7	9–3	7–5	6–5	4–7	—	7–4	8–3	7–4	4–7	6–6	6–5	3–8	9–3	4–11
Los Angeles	5–6	6–5	5–6	7–5	4–7	4–7	—	7–4	6–5	10–1	9–2	5–7	6–6	5–6	9–7
Montreal	2–10	7–4	5–6	4–7	5–7	3–8	4–7	—	5–7	6–6	5–6	8–3	6–5	6–5	12–3
New York	7–5	5–6	9–2	5–6	8–4	4–7	5–6	7–5	—	7–5	7–4	5–6	3–8	9–2	7–8
Philadelphia	2–10	5–6	3–8	7–4	6–6	7–4	1–10	6–6	5–7	—	5–6	7–4	3–8	6–5	5–10
Pittsburgh	6–5	5–7	4–8	7–4	4–7	6–6	2–9	6–5	4–7	6–5	—	5–6	8–3	9–3	7–8
San Diego	3–8	5–6	6–5	8–4	6–5	5–6	7–5	3–8	6–5	4–7	6–5	—	4–8	5–6	8–8
San Francisco	4–7	6–5	7–4	8–4	6–5	8–3	6–6	5–6	8–3	8–3	3–8	8–4	—	3–8	10–6
St. Louis	3–8	8–4	6–6	4–7	6–5	3–9	6–5	5–6	2–9	5–6	3–9	6–5	8–3	—	8–7

Roster

1997 San Diego Padres
Roster
Pitchers 43 Andy Ashby 46 Rich Batchelor 40,44 Sean Bergman 45 Doug Bochtler 55 Jim Bruske 33 Terry Burrows 39 Will Cunnane 44 Todd Erdos 50 Joey Hamilton 41 Sterling Hitchcock 51 Trevor Hoffman 34 Danny Jackson 32 Marc Kroon 52 Joey Long 54 Paul Menhart 48 Heath Murray 54 Tim Scott 47 Pete Smith 34 Fernando Valenzuela 53 Darío Veras 36 Tim Worrell		Catchers 23 John Flaherty 9,65 Carlos Hernández  3 Mandy Romero 14 Don Slaught Infielders 14 George Arias 21 Ken Caminiti 29 Archi Cianfrocco 10 Chris Gomez 22 Wally Joyner 27 Derrek Lee  8 Scott Livingstone 18 Craig Shipley 26 Terry Shumpert 13 Jorge Velandia  4 Quilvio Veras		Outfielders 31 Trey Beamon 12 Steve Finley 19 Tony Gwynn 24 Rickey Henderson 20 Chris Jones  7 Phil Plantier 28 Rubén Rivera  8 Mark Sweeney 25 Greg Vaughn		Manager 15 Bruce Bochy Coaches 38 Greg Booker (bullpen) 11 Tim Flannery (third base) 42 Davey Lopes (first base)  5 Rob Picciolo (bench) 16 Merv Rettenmund (hitting) 37 Dan Warthen (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	John Flaherty	129	439	120	.273	9	46
1B	Wally Joyner	135	455	149	.327	13	83
2B	Quilvio Veras	145	539	143	.265	3	45
SS	Chris Gomez	150	522	132	.253	5	54
3B	Ken Caminiti	137	486	141	.290	26	90
LF	Greg Vaughn	120	361	78	.216	18	57
CF	Steve Finley	143	560	146	.261	28	92
RF	Tony Gwynn	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
Rickey Henderson	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
Andy Ashby	30	200.2	9	11	4.13	144
Joey Hamilton	31	192.2	12	7	4.25	124
Sterling Hitchcock	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
Trevor Hoffman	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

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Las Vegas Stars	Pacific Coast League	Jerry Royster
AA	Mobile BayBears	Southern League	Mike Ramsey
A	Rancho Cucamonga Quakes	California League	Mike Basso
A	Clinton LumberKings	Midwest League	Tom LeVasseur
Rookie	AZL Padres	Arizona League	Randy Whisler
Rookie	Idaho Falls Braves	Pioneer League	Don Werner

^[4]