1997 San Francisco Giants season

The 1997 San Francisco Giants season was the Giants' 115th season in Major League Baseball, their 40th season in San Francisco since their move from New York following the 1957 season, and their 38th at 3Com Park at Candlestick Point. The Giants finished in first place in the National League West with a record of 90 wins and 72 losses. They lost the NLDS in three games to the Florida Marlins.

1997 San Francisco Giants
National League West champions
League	National League
Division	West
Ballpark	3Com Park at Candlestick Point
City	San Francisco
Record	90–72 (.556)
Divisional place	1st
Owners	Peter Magowan
General managers	Brian Sabean
Managers	Dusty Baker
Television	KTVU SportsChannel Pacific (Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, Lon Simmons, Ted Robinson, Jon Miller )
Radio	KNBR (Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, Lon Simmons, Ted Robinson, Jon Miller ) SP Radio (Julio Gonzalez, Rene De La Rosa, Amaury Pi-Gonzalez)
← 1996 Seasons 1998 →

Offseason

• November 13, 1996: Matt Williams was traded by the San Francisco Giants with a player to be named later to the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later, Jeff Kent, Julián Tavárez, and José Vizcaíno. The Cleveland Indians sent Joe Roa (December 16, 1996) to the San Francisco Giants to complete the trade.^[1]
• November 26, 1996: J. T. Snow was traded by the Anaheim Angels to the San Francisco Giants for Allen Watson and Fausto Macey (minors).^[2]
• December 16, 1996: Trenidad Hubbard was sent by the San Francisco Giants to the Cleveland Indians to complete an earlier deal made on November 13, 1996.^[3]
• January 6, 1997: Damon Berryhill was signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants.^[4]

Regular season

• June 12 – The first interleague game took place as the Texas Rangers hosted the San Francisco Giants at The Ballpark in Arlington (now Rangers Ballpark in Arlington).

Opening Day starters

• Darryl Hamilton CF
• José Vizcaíno SS
• Glenallen Hill RF
• Barry Bonds LF
• Jeff Kent 2B
• J.T. Snow 1B
• Rick Wilkins C
• Bill Mueller 3B
• Mark Gardner P

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 Francisco Giants
Roster
Pitchers 40 Wilson Álvarez 43 René Arocha 41 Cory Bailey 47 Rod Beck 29 Dan Carlson 51 Doug Creek 43 Danny Darwin 41 Rich DeLucia 55 Shawn Estes 22 Osvaldo Fernández 38 Keith Foulke 26 Mark Gardner 57 Doug Henry 49 Roberto Hernández 37,41 John Johnstone 45 Terry Mulholland 19 Jim Poole 49 Pat Rapp 37 Joe Roa 33 Rich Rodriguez 42,45,46 Kirk Rueter 52 Julián Tavárez 50 William Van Landingham		Catchers  8 Damon Berryhill 30 Marcus Jensen 18 Brian Johnson  2 Doug Mirabelli  2 Rick Wilkins Infielders 35 Rich Aurilia 36,38 Wilson Delgado 21 Jeff Kent 14 Mark Lewis 32 Bill Mueller  6 J. T. Snow 10 José Vizcaíno		Outfielders  7 Marvin Benard 25 Barry Bonds 30 Jacob Cruz  5 Darryl Hamilton 34 Glenallen Hill 28 Stan Javier 23 Dante Powell		Manager 12 Dusty Baker Coaches 17 Carlos Alfonso (first base) 20 Gene Clines (hitting) 15 Sonny Jackson (third base) 16 Ron Perranoski (bench) 48 Dick Pole (pitching)

Notable transactions

• August 8, 1997: William Van Landingham was released by the San Francisco Giants.^[5]
• August 19, 1997: William Van Landingham was signed as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants.^[5]

The White Flag Trade was a trade made in 1997. On July 31, 1997, the Chicago White Sox traded three major players to the San Francisco Giants for six minor leaguers. At the time, the trade was maligned by the vast majority of White Sox fans as Jerry Reinsdorf giving up on the team, as they were only 3.5 games behind the Cleveland Indians for the American League Central Division lead. In 2000, however, the White Sox won the Central Division title, receiving large contributions from two of the players received in this trade.

• The Chicago White Sox received:
  • Keith Foulke,^[6] right-handed pitcher
  • Bob Howry, right-handed pitcher
  • Lorenzo Barceló, right-handed pitcher
  • Ken Vining, left-handed pitcher
  • Mike Caruso, shortstop
  • Brian Manning
• The San Francisco Giants received:
  • Wilson Álvarez, left-handed pitcher
  • Danny Darwin, right-handed pitcher
  • Roberto Hernández, right-handed pitcher

Player stats

Batting

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	Rick Wilkins	66	190	37	.195	6	23
1B	J.T. Snow	157	531	149	.281	28	104
2B	Jeff Kent	155	580	145	.250	29	121
SS	José Vizcaíno	151	568	151	.266	5	50
3B	Bill Mueller	128	390	114	.292	7	44
LF	Barry Bonds	159	532	155	.291	40	101
CF	Darryl Hamilton	125	460	124	.270	5	43
RF	Glenallen Hill	128	398	104	.261	11	64

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
Stan Javier	142	440	126	.286	8	50
Mark Lewis	118	341	91	.267	10	42
Brian Johnson	56	179	50	.279	11	27
Damon Berryhill	73	167	43	.257	3	23
Marvin Benard	84	114	26	.228	1	13
Rich Aurilia	46	102	28	.275	5	19
Marcus Jensen	30	74	11	.149	1	3
Dante Powell	27	39	12	.308	1	3
Jacob Cruz	16	25	4	.160	0	3
Wilson Delgado	8	7	1	.143	0	0
Doug Mirabelli	6	7	1	.143	0	0

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
Shawn Estes	32	201.0	19	5	3.18	181
Kirk Rueter	32	190.2	13	6	3.45	115
Mark Gardner	30	180.1	12	9	4.29	136
William Van Landingham	18	89.0	4	7	4.96	52
Wilson Álvarez	11	66.1	4	3	4.48	69
Osvaldo Fernández	11	56.1	3	4	4.95	31
Keith Foulke	11	44.2	1	5	8.26	33
Danny Darwin	10	44.0	1	3	4.91	30
Pat Rapp	8	33.0	1	2	6.00	28
Doug Creek	3	13.1	1	2	6.75	14

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
Joe Roa	28	65.2	2	5	5.21	34
Terry Mulholland	15	29.2	0	1	5.16	25

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
Rod Beck	73	7	4	37	3.47	53
Julián Tavárez	89	6	4	0	3.87	38
Doug Henry	75	4	5	3	4.71	69
Rich Rodriguez	71	4	3	1	3.17	32
Jim Poole	63	3	1	0	7.11	26
Roberto Hernández	28	5	2	4	2.48	35
John Johnstone	13	0	0	0	3.38	15
Cory Bailey	7	0	1	0	8.38	5
Dan Carlson	6	0	0	0	7.63	14
René Arocha	6	0	0	0	11.32	7
Rich DeLucia	3	0	0	0	10.80	2

National League Divisional Playoffs

Main article: 1997 National League Division Series

Florida Marlins vs. San Francisco Giants

Florida wins the series, 3-0

Game	Home	Score	Visitor	Score	Date	Series
1	Florida	2	San Francisco	1	September 30	1-0 (FLA)
2	Florida	7	San Francisco	6	October 1	2-0 (FLA)
3	San Francisco	2	Florida	6	October 3	3-0 (FLA)

Award winners

• J. T. Snow 1B, Willie Mac Award

All-Star Game

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Phoenix Firebirds	Pacific Coast League	Ron Wotus
AA	Shreveport Captains	Texas League	Carlos Lezcano
A	Bakersfield Blaze	California League	Glenn Tufts and Keith Bodie
A	San Jose Giants	California League	Frank Cacciatore
A-Short Season	Salem-Keizer Volcanoes	Northwest League	Shane Turner

^[7]