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1997 Colorado Rockies
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Jerry McMorris
Manager(s) Don Baylor
Local television KWGN-TV
Fox Sports Rocky Mountain
(Dave Campbell, Dave Armstrong)
Local radio KOA (AM)
(Wayne Hagin, Jeff Kingery)
KCUV
(Francisco Gamez, Antonio Guevara)
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The Colorado Rockies' 1997 season was the 5th for the Rockies. They tried to win the National League West. Don Baylor was their manager. They played home games at Coors Field. They finished with a record of 83-79, third in the NL West.

Offseason[edit]

  • November 28, 1996: Armando Reynoso was traded by the Colorado Rockies to the New York Mets for Jerry DiPoto. [1]
  • December 9, 1996: Kirt Manwaring was signed as a Free Agent by the Colorado Rockies.[2]
  • January 15, 1997: Juan Uribe was signed as an Amateur Free Agent by the Colorado Rockies. [3]
  • January 24, 1997: Darnell Coles was signed as a Free Agent by the Colorado Rockies.[4]
  • March 26, 1997: Steve Decker was released by the Colorado Rockies.[5]

Regular season[edit]

Larry Walker had a career season in 1997, when he hit .366 with 49 home runs, 130 RBI, 33 stolen bases, and 409 total bases, en route to becoming the first Canadian player to win the MVP Award.

Combined with 12 outfield assists, the season remains one of the finest all around performances in recent baseball history. Even more impressively, Walker's breakout season came just one year after various injuries limited him to 83 games and 272 at-bats, although the NL Comeback Player of the Year award went to Darren Daulton.

Season standings[edit]

NL West W L GB Pct.
San Francisco Giants 90 72 -- .556
Los Angeles Dodgers 88 74 2.0 .543
Colorado Rockies 83 79 7.0 .512
San Diego Padres 76 86 14.0 .449

Transactions[edit]

  • May 23, 1997: Darnell Coles was purchased by the Hanshin Tigers (Japan Central) from the Colorado Rockies.[4]
  • June 3, 1997: Aaron Cook was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 2nd round of the 1997 amateur draft. Player signed July 13, 1997.[6]
  • June 3, 1997: Chone Figgins was drafted by the Colorado Rockies in the 4th round of the 1997 amateur draft. Player signed June 9, 1997.[7]
  • July 27, 1997: Craig Counsell was traded by the Colorado Rockies to the Florida Marlins for Mark Hutton.[8]
  • August 19, 1997: Eric Young was traded by the Colorado Rockies to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Pedro Astacio. [9]
  • August 20, 1997: Bill Swift was released by the Colorado Rockies. [10]

Major League debuts[edit]

  • Batters:
    • Todd Helton (Aug 2)
  • Pitchers:
    • Mike DeJean (May 2)
    • John Thomson (May 11)
    • Bobby Jones (May 18) [11]

Roster[edit]

1997 Colorado Rockies
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Game log[edit]

1997 Game Log

Player stats[edit]

= Indicates team leader

Batting[edit]

Starters by position[edit]

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 Kirt Manwaring 104 337 76 .226 1 27
1B Andrés Galarraga 154 600 191 .318 41 140
2B Eric Young 118 468 132 .282 6 45
SS Walt Weiss 121 393 106 .270 4 38
3B Vinny Castilla 159 612 186 .304 40 113
LF Dante Bichette 151 561 173 .308 26 118
CF Quinton McCracken 147 325 95 .292 3 36
RF Larry Walker 153 568 208 .366 49 130

Other batters[edit]

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
Burks, EllisEllis Burks 119 424 123 .290 32 82
Pérez, NeifiNeifi Pérez 83 313 91 .291 5 31
Reed, JeffJeff Reed 90 256 76 .297 17 47
Bates, JasonJason Bates 62 121 29 .240 3 11
Helton, ToddTodd Helton 35 93 26 .280 5 11
Vander Wal, JohnJohn Vander Wal 76 92 16 .174 1 11
Coles, DarnellDarnell Coles 21 22 7 .318 1 2

Pitching[edit]

Starting pitchers[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bailey, RogerRoger Bailey 29 191.0 9 10 4.29 84
Thomson, JohnJohn Thomson 27 166.1 7 9 4.71 106
Wright, JameyJamey Wright 26 149.2 8 12 6.25 59
Ritz, KevinKevin Ritz 18 107.1 6 8 5.87 56
Castillo, FrankFrank Castillo 14 86.1 6 3 5.42 59
Swift, BillBill Swift 14 65.1 4 6 6.34 29

Other pitchers[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Holmes, DarrenDarren Holmes 42 89.1 9 2 5.34 70
Burke, JohnJohn Burke 17 59.0 2 5 6.56 39
Astacio, PedroPedro Astacio 7 48.2 5 1 4.25 51
McCurry, JeffJeff McCurry 33 40.2 1 4 4.43 19
Ruffin, BruceBruce Ruffin 23 22.0 0 2 5.32 31

Relief pitchers[edit]

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
DiPoto, JerryJerry DiPoto 74 5 3 16 4.70 74
Munoz, MikeMike Munoz 64 3 3 2 4.53 26
Reed, SteveSteve Reed 63 4 6 6 4.04 43
DeJean, MikeMike DeJean 55 5 0 2 3.99 38
Leskanic, CurtisCurtis Leskanic 55 4 0 2 5.55 53

Farm system[edit]

Level Team League Manager
AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox Pacific Coast League Paul Zuvella
AA New Haven Ravens Eastern League Bill Hayes
A Salem Avalanche Carolina League Bill McGuire
A Asheville Tourists South Atlantic League Ron Gideon
Short-Season A Portland Rockies Northwest League Jim Eppard
Rookie AZL Rockies Arizona League Tim Blackwell
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Portland[12]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

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