1997 Chicago White Sox season

1997 Chicago White Sox
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionCentral
BallparkComiskey Park
CityChicago
OwnersJerry Reinsdorf
General managersRon Schueler
ManagersTerry Bevington
TelevisionWGN-TV
SportsChannel Chicago
(Ken Harrelson, Tom Paciorek)
RadioWMVP
(John Rooney, Ed Farmer, Dave Wills)
WIND (AM)
(Hector Molina)
← 1996 Seasons 1998 →

The 1997 Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 98th season. They finished with a record of 80–81, good enough for second place in the American League Central, 6 games behind the first place Cleveland Indians.

Offseason

  • November 19, 1996: Albert Belle signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.[1]
  • January 14, 1997: Doug Drabek was signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.[2]
  • February 7, 1997: Danny Darwin signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox.[3]

Regular season

Frank Thomas at Comiskey Park, August 1997
  • June 16 – The first interleague game between the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox took place at Comiskey Park II. The Cubs won the game by a score of 8-3.[4]
  • September 14 – Chicago White Sox retire catcher Carlton Fisk's No. 72 in a ceremony before the Sept. 14 game against Cleveland Indians.[5]
Carlton Fisk's number 72 was retired by the Chicago White Sox in 1997.

Albert Belle

In the winter of 1996, Belle signed a 5-year, $55 million deal with the Chicago White Sox as a free agent. This contract made him the highest paid player in baseball for a brief period. Belle enjoyed two great seasons in Chicago, including a career-high 27-game hitting streak in May 1997. Belle came close to having another 50/50 season in 1998, with 49 home runs and 48 doubles. Additionally, when Cal Ripken ended his record consecutive game streak in September 1998, it was Belle who took over as the major leagues' active leader in the category. Belle's White Sox contract had an unusual clause allowing him to demand that he would remain one of the three highest paid players in baseball.

Season standings

AL Central
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 86 75 .534 — 44‍–‍37 42‍–‍38
Chicago White Sox 80 81 .497 6 45‍–‍36 35‍–‍45
Milwaukee Brewers 78 83 .484 8 47‍–‍33 31‍–‍50
Minnesota Twins 68 94 .420 18½ 35‍–‍46 33‍–‍48
Kansas City Royals 67 94 .416 19 33‍–‍47 34‍–‍47

Record vs. opponents

1997 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
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


1997 Opening Day lineup

Notable Transactions

May 18, 1997: Tony Phillips was traded by the Chicago White Sox with Chad Kreuter to the Anaheim Angels for Chuck McElroy and Jorge Fábregas.[6]

The White Flag Trade

Main article: White Flag Trade

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.

Roster

1997 Chicago White Sox
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs scored; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; BB = Base on balls; SO = Strikeouts; AVG = Batting average; SB = Stolen bases

Player G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG SB
Jeff Abbott, OF,DH 19 38 8 10 1 0 1 2 0 6 .263 0
Wilson Álvarez, P 22 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0
Harold Baines, DH 93 318 40 97 18 0 12 52 41 47 .305 0
James Baldwin, P 32 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 0
Albert Belle, LF 161 634 90 174 45 1 30 116 53 105 .274 4
Mike Cameron, CF 116 379 63 98 18 3 14 55 55 105 .259 23
Carlos Castillo, P 37 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 0
Tony Castillo, P 64 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Danny Darwin, P 21 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 0
Doug Drabek, P 32 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0
Ray Durham, 2B 155 634 106 172 27 5 11 53 61 96 .271 33
Scott Eyre, P 11 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 0
Jorge Fábregas, C 100 322 31 90 10 1 7 48 11 43 .280 1
Chad Fonville, OF,SS,2B 9 9 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 .111 2
Ozzie Guillén, SS 142 490 59 120 21 6 4 52 22 24 .245 5
Ron Karkovice, C 51 138 10 25 3 0 6 18 11 32 .181 0
Chad Kreuter, C 19 37 6 8 2 1 1 3 8 9 .216 0
Darren Lewis, CF 81 77 15 18 1 0 0 5 11 14 .234 11
Robert Machado, C 10 15 1 3 0 1 0 2 1 6 .200 0
Norberto Martin, SS,3B,2B 71 213 24 64 7 1 2 27 6 31 .300 1
Dave Martinez, OF,1B 145 504 78 144 16 6 12 55 55 69 .286 12
Chuck McElroy, P 49 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Lyle Mouton, OF,DH 88 242 26 65 9 0 5 23 14 66 .269 4
Jaime Navarro, P 33 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0
Greg Norton, 3B 18 34 5 9 2 2 0 1 2 8 .265 0
Magglio Ordóñez, RF 21 69 12 22 6 0 4 11 2 8 .319 1
Tony Peña, C 31 67 4 11 1 0 0 8 8 13 .164 0
Tony Phillips, RF,3B 36 129 23 40 6 0 2 9 29 29 .310 4
Mike Sirotka, P 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 0
Chris Snopek, 3B,SS 86 298 27 65 15 0 5 35 18 51 .218 3
Frank Thomas, 1B,DH 146 530 110 184 35 0 35 125 109 69 .347 1
Mario Valdez, 1B 54 115 11 28 7 0 1 13 17 39 .243 1
Robin Ventura, 3B 54 183 27 48 10 1 6 26 34 21 .262 0
Team Totals
 161 5491 779 1498 260 28 158 740 569 901 .273 106

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; HR = Home runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; K = Strikeouts

Player W L ERA G GS SV IP H R ER HR BB K
Wilson Álvarez 9 8 3.03 22 22 0 145.2 126 61 49 9 56 110
James Baldwin 12 15 5.27 32 32 0 200.0 205 128 117 19 86 140
Jason Bere 4 2 4.71 6 6 0 28.2 20 15 15 4 17 21
Mike Bertotti 0 0 7.36 9 0 0 3.2 9 3 3 0 2 4
Carlos Castillo 2 1 4.48 37 2 1 66.1 68 35 33 9 36 43
Tony Castillo 4 4 4.91 64 0 4 62.1 74 48 34 6 30 42
Chris Clemons 0 2 8.53 5 2 0 12.2 19 13 12 4 11 8
Nelson Cruz 0 2 6.49 19 0 0 26.1 29 19 19 6 10 31
Danny Darwin 4 8 4.13 21 17 0 113.1 130 60 52 21 32 62
Jeff Darwin 0 1 5.27 14 0 0 13.2 17 8 8 1 7 9
Doug Drabek 12 11 5.74 31 31 0 169.1 170 109 108 30 74 85
Scott Eyre 4 4 5.04 11 11 0 60.2 62 36 34 11 32 36
Tom Fordham 0 1 6.23 7 1 0 17.1 17 13 12 2 12 10
Keith Foulke 3 0 3.45 16 0 3 28.2 28 11 11 4 6 21
Roberto Hernández 5 1 2.44 46 0 27 48.0 38 15 13 5 28 47
Matt Karchner 3 1 2.91 52 0 15 52.2 50 18 17 4 30 30
Al Levine 2 2 6.91 25 0 0 27.1 35 22 21 4 17 22
Chuck McElroy 1 3 3.94 48 0 1 59.1 56 29 26 3 20 44
Jaime Navarro 9 14 5.79 33 33 0 209.2 267 155 135 22 79 142
Bill Simas 3 1 4.14 40 0 1 41.1 46 23 19 6 27 38
Mike Sirotka 3 0 2.25 7 4 0 32.0 36 9 8 4 6 24
Larry Thomas 0 0 8.10 5 0 0 3.1 3 3 3 1 2 0
Team Totals
 80 81 4.73 161 161 52 1422.1 1505 833 748 175 620 961

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Nashville Sounds American Association Tom Spencer
AA Birmingham Barons Southern League Dave Huppert
A Winston-Salem Warthogs Carolina League Mike Heath and Mark Haley
A Hickory Crawdads South Atlantic League Chris Cron
Rookie Bristol White Sox Appalachian League Nick Capra
Rookie GCL White Sox Gulf Coast League Roly de Armas

[8]

References

  1. ^ Albert Belle Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  2. ^ "Doug Drabek Stats".
  3. ^ Danny Darwin Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. ^ "Box Score of Game played on Monday, June 16, 1997 at Comiskey Park II".
  5. ^ "Feud Aside, Fisk's No. 72 to be Retired". Chicago Tribune.
  6. ^ Tony Phillips Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  7. ^ "Keith Foulke Stats".
  8. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007