1997 Minnesota Twins season

1997 Minnesota Twins
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Central Division (since 1994)
Location
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (since 1982)
Minneapolis (since 1982)
Other information
Owner(s)	Carl Pohlad
General manager(s)	Terry Ryan
Manager(s)	Tom Kelly
Local television	WCCO-TV Midwest Sports Channel (Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer, Ryan Lefebvre)
Local radio	830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, John Gordon)
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The 1997 Minnesota Twins will not be remembered as the strongest team the Twins ever fielded. Manager Tom Kelly's team consisted of a few solid players, but mainly past-their-prime veterans and never-to-be-established prospects. One of the few bright spots was pitcher Brad Radke's breakout season. The team finished with a 68-94 record, good enough for fourth place in the league's weakest division.

Offseason

November 4: Signed Juan Rincón as an amateur free agent.
December 5: Signed catcher and Minnesota native Terry Steinbach as a free agent.
December 12: Signed pitcher Bob Tewksbury as a free agent.
December 18: Signed pitcher Greg Swindell as a free agent.^[1]

Offense

In 1996, catcher Terry Steinbach had a 35-home run, 100-RBI season with the Oakland Athletics in a contract year. Unfortunately for the Twins, he followed it up with a 12-home run, 54-RBI season with his hometown team. Scott Stahoviak played in half the games at first base but batted only .229. Second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, the team's lone all-star, had a great year with the Twins, batting .291 and stealing a career-high 62 bases. The contrast between his season and his team's season led him to demand a trade, a demand the team obliged by sending him to the New York Yankees the following February. Ron Coomer had a competent year at third, with 13 home runs. He declined to "ride the pines" to protect a .301 batting average, and finished 1 for his last 8 to end at .298. Pat Meares hit .276, an above-average season for him. The primary outfielders – Marty Cordova, Rich Becker, and Matt Lawton – had mediocre seasons. This was disappointing, because Cordova and Becker were coming off of the best years in their careers. Designated hitter Paul Molitor had a good year, batting .305 with 89 RBI, but it did not match his stellar 1996 numbers. Veterans like Roberto Kelly and Greg Colbrunn performed reasonably well off the bench.

**Team Leaders**
Statistic	Player	Quantity
HR	Marty Cordova	15
RBI	Paul Molitor	89
BA	Paul Molitor	.305
Runs	Chuck Knoblauch	117

Pitching

Brad Radke had a breakout year, going 20-10 with an ERA of 3.87. His string of twelve consecutive wins in twelve consecutive starts had only been matched twice since 1950. Bob Tewksbury and Rich Robertson spent most of the year in the starting rotation, but both had losing records. In the final two spots, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Aldred, and Frank Rodriguez respectively had 20, 15, and 15 starts. Of these three, Rodriguez was the only one with an ERA under 5. Rick Aguilera had a good year as the team's closer, earning 26 saves in not very many opportunities. Eddie Guardado, Mike Trombley, Greg Swindell, and Todd Ritchie had competent seasons in the bullpen. At the end of the season, Dan Serafini played well in six games, giving some hope for the future.

**Team Leaders**
Statistic	Player	Quantity
ERA	Brad Radke	3.87
Wins	Brad Radke	20
Saves	Rick Aguilera	26
Strikeouts	Brad Radke	174

Defense

Steinbach played well at catcher, backed up by Greg Myers. Stahoviak played in 81 games at first, with Colbrunn in 64. Knoblauch won a Gold Glove at second base in a season that gave no indication of his future throwing problems. Coomer (third base) and Meares (shortstop) were average at their positions. The three outfielders played well in the field.

Regular season

Season standings

AL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	86	75	0.534	—	44–37	42–38
Chicago White Sox	80	81	0.497	6	45–36	35–45
Milwaukee Brewers	78	83	0.484	8	47–33	31–50
Minnesota Twins	68	94	0.420	18½	35–46	33–48
Kansas City Royals	67	94	0.416	19	33–47	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	—	4–7	6–5	6–5	7–4	5–6	6–5	7–4	4–7	4–7	11–1	6–6	8–4	6–5	4–12
Baltimore	7–4	—	5–7	5–6	6–5	6–6	7–4	5–6	10–1	8–4	8–3	7–4	10–1	6–6	8–7
Boston	5–6	7–5	—	3–8	6–5	5–7	3–8	8–3	8–3	4–8	7–4	7–4	3–8	6–6	6–9
Chicago	5–6	6–5	8–3	—	5–7	4–7	11–1	4–7	6–6	2–9	8–3	5–6	3–8	5–6	8–7
Cleveland	4–7	5–6	5–6	7–5	—	6–5	8–3	8–4	8–4	5–6	7–4	3–8	5–6	6–5	9–6
Detroit	6–5	6–6	7–5	7–4	5–6	—	6–5	4–7	4–7	2–10	7–4	4–7	7–4	6–6	8–7
Kansas City	5–6	4–7	8–3	1–11	3–8	5–6	—	6–6	7–5	3–8	3–8	5–6	6–5	5–6	6–9
Milwaukee	4–7	6–5	3–8	7–4	4–8	7–4	6–6	—	5–7	4–7	5–6	5–6	7–4	7–4	8–7
Minnesota	7–4	1–10	3–8	6–6	4–8	7–4	5–7	7–5	—	3–8	7–4	5–6	3–8	3–8	7–8
New York	7–4	4–8	8–4	9–2	6–5	10–2	8–3	7–4	8–3	—	6–5	4–7	7–4	7–5	5–10
Oakland	1–11	3–8	4–7	3–8	4–7	4–7	8–3	6–5	4–7	5–6	—	5–7	5–7	6–5	7–9
Seattle	6–6	4–7	4–7	6–5	8–3	7–4	6–5	6–5	6–5	7–4	7–5	—	8–4	8–3	7–9
Texas	4–8	1–10	8–3	8–3	6–5	4–7	5–6	4–7	8–3	4–7	7–5	4–8	—	4–7	10–6
Toronto	5–6	6–6	6–6	6–5	5–6	6–6	6–5	4–7	8–3	5–7	5–6	3–8	7–4	—	4–11

Roster

1997 Minnesota Twins

Roster

Pitchers

38 Rick Aguilera

57 Scott Aldred

52 Shane Bowers

18 Eddie Guardado

32 LaTroy Hawkins

26 Kevin Jarvis

20 Travis Miller

31 Dan Naulty

30 Gregg Olson

23,22 Brad Radke

23 Todd Ritchie

47 Rich Robertson

33 Frankie Rodriguez

16 Dan Serafini

41 Dave Stevens

17 Greg Swindell

19 Bob Tewksbury

21 Mike Trombley

Catchers

39 Damian Miller

24 Greg Myers

36 Terry Steinbach

26 Javier Valentín

Infielders

28 Greg Colbrunn

8 Ron Coomer

7 Denny Hocking

11 Chuck Knoblauch

2 Pat Meares

4 Paul Molitor

27 David Ortiz

37 Scott Stahoviak

12 Todd Walker

Outfielders

25 Rich Becker

51 Brent Brede

40 Marty Cordova

15 Darrin Jackson

5 Roberto Kelly

59 Chris Latham

50 Matt Lawton

Other batters

48 Torii Hunter

Manager

10 Tom Kelly

Coaches

46 Terry Crowley (hitting)

35 Ron Gardenhire (third base)

43 Rick Stelmaszek (bullpen)

42 Dick Such (pitching)

45 Scott Ullger

Notable transactions

January 24: Signed first baseman Greg Colbrunn as a free agent.
June 3: Drafted future major leaguers such as Michael Cuddyer^[2] (1st round, 9th pick), Matthew LeCroy (1st, 50th), Michael Restovich (2nd round), J. C. Romero (21st round), and Nick Punto (33rd round). (Punto did not sign with the team.)
July 31: Relief pitcher Dave Stevens claimed off waivers from the Chicago Cubs.
August 14: Traded Colbrunn to the Atlanta Braves for a player to be named later. On October 1, the Braves sent the Twins minor leaguer Mark Lewis to complete the deal.
August 20: Traded Roberto Kelly to the Seattle Mariners for players to be named later. On October 9, the Mariners sent the Twins Joe Mays and minor leaguer Jeromy Palki to complete the deal.
November 18: Catcher Damian Miller and outfielder/first baseman Brent Brede lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in the expansion draft.
December 11: Signed outfielder Otis Nixon as a free agent.^[3]
December 12: Traded outfielder Rich Becker to the New York Mets for outfielder Alex Ochoa.^[4]
December 16: Signed pitcher Mike Morgan as a free agent.
December 23: Signed infielder and Minnesota native Brent Gates as a free agent.
December 24: Signed pitcher Mike Nakamura as a free agent.

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

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

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO

Miscellaneous

The highest paid Twin in 1997 was Knoblauch at $6,150,000, followed by Molitor at $3,500,000.
In recognition of the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking MLB's color-line, the Twins wore uniforms of the 1909 St. Paul Colored Gophers at home against Cleveland on July 13, 1997.

Awards and honors

Paul Molitor, Lou Gehrig Award

All-Star Game

The lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was second baseman Chuck Knoblauch.

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Salt Lake Buzz	Pacific Coast League	Phil Roof
AA	New Britain Rock Cats	Eastern League	Al Newman
A	Fort Myers Miracle	Florida State League	John Russell
A	Fort Wayne Wizards	Midwest League	Mike Boulanger
Rookie	Elizabethton Twins	Appalachian League	Jose Marzan
Rookie	GCL Twins	Gulf Coast League	Steve Liddle

References

↑ Greg Swindell Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cuddymi01.shtml
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nixonot01.shtml
↑ http://www.baseball-reference.com/o/ochoaal01.shtml
↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

External links

1997 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Detroit New York Toronto

AL Central	Chicago Cleveland Kansas City Milwaukee Minnesota

AL West	Anaheim Oakland Seattle Texas

NL East	Atlanta Florida Montréal New York Philadelphia

NL Central	Chicago Cincinnati Houston Pittsburgh St. Louis

NL West	Colorado Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

Minnesota Twins

Formerly the Washington Nationals and the Washington Senators
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Twin Cities)

Franchise

Ballparks

Spring Training: Plant Field
Tinker Field
Hammond Stadium

Culture

Homer Hanky
Little Big League
Major League: Back to the Minors
Continental League
"The Piranhas"
AL Central tie-breaker games
- 2008
- 2009
Damn Yankees

Important figures

Senators Hall of Famers	Herb Carneal Goose Goslin Bucky Harris Walter Johnson Arch McDonald Sam Rice

Wall of Fame members	Rick Aguilera Bob Allison Earl Battey Bert Blyleven George Brophy Rod Carew Bob Casey Gary Gaetti Calvin Griffith Kent Hrbek Jim Kaat Tom Kelly Harmon Killebrew Tony Oliva Carl Pohlad Kirby Puckett Brad Radke Jim Rantz Zoilo Versalles Frank Viola

World Series
Championships (3)

Pennants (6)

American League: 1924
1925
1933
1965
1987
1991

Division titles (10)

West: 1969; 1970; 1987; 1991
Central: 2002; 2003; 2004; 2006; 2009; 2010

Minor league affiliates

Triple-A: Rochester Red Wings
Double-A: Chattanooga Lookouts
A Adv.: Fort Myers Miracle
A: Cedar Rapids Kernels
Rookie Adv.: Elizabethton Twins
Rookie: GCL Twins; DSL Twins

Seasons (116)

1900s	1900 . 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909

1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919

1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929

1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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