# 1997 Milwaukee Brewers season

The 1997 Milwaukee Brewers season was the 28th season for the Brewers in Milwaukee, and their 29th overall. The Brewers finished third in the American League Central, eight games behind the Cleveland Indians, with a record of 78 wins and 83 losses. 1997 was the Brewers' final season in the American League, before moving to the National League for the following season.

## Offseason

* November 27, 1996: Jeff Ware was selected off waivers by the Brewers from the Toronto Blue Jays.
* January 30, 1997: Jack Voigt was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.

## Regular season

* (1997) Jackie Robinson Retired by Major League Baseball

### Season standings

vteAL 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 recordvte 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 |

### Notable transactions

* August 13, 1997: Julio Franco was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.
* August 14, 1997: Mark Davis was acquired by the Brewers from the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a conditional deal.

### Roster
## 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 | Mike Matheny | 123 | 320 | 78 | .244 | 4 | 32 |
| 1B | Dave Nilsson | 156 | 554 | 154 | .278 | 20 | 81 |
| 2B | Fernando Viña | 79 | 324 | 89 | .275 | 4 | 28 |
| 3B | Jeff Cirillo | 154 | 580 | 167 | .288 | 10 | 82 |
| SS | José Valentín | 136 | 494 | 125 | .253 | 17 | 58 |
| LF | Gerald Williams | 155 | 566 | 143 | .253 | 10 | 41 |
| CF | Jeromy Burnitz | 153 | 494 | 139 | .281 | 27 | 85 |
| RF | Matt Mieske | 84 | 253 | 63 | .249 | 5 | 21 |
| DH | Julio Franco | 42 | 141 | 34 | .241 | 4 | 19 |

#### 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 |
| Mark Loretta | 132 | 418 | 120 | .287 | 5 | 47 |
| Jesse Levis | 99 | 200 | 57 | .285 | 1 | 19 |
| John Jaha | 46 | 162 | 40 | .247 | 11 | 26 |
| Marc Newfield | 50 | 157 | 36 | .229 | 1 | 18 |
| Jack Voigt | 72 | 151 | 37 | .245 | 8 | 22 |
| Jeff Huson | 84 | 143 | 29 | .203 | 0 | 11 |
| Todd Dunn | 44 | 118 | 27 | .229 | 3 | 9 |
| Darrin Jackson | 26 | 81 | 22 | .272 | 2 | 15 |
| Brian Banks | 28 | 68 | 14 | .206 | 1 | 8 |
| Antone Williamson | 24 | 54 | 11 | .204 | 0 | 6 |
| Eddy Díaz | 16 | 50 | 11 | .220 | 0 | 7 |
| Chuck Carr | 26 | 46 | 6 | .130 | 0 | 0 |
| Kelly Stinnett | 30 | 36 | 9 | .250 | 0 | 3 |
| Tim Unroe | 32 | 16 | 4 | .250 | 2 | 5 |

### 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 |
| Cal Eldred | 34 | 202.0 | 13 | 15 | 4.99 | 122 |
| Scott Karl | 32 | 193.1 | 10 | 13 | 4.47 | 119 |
| José Mercedes | 29 | 159.0 | 7 | 10 | 3.79 | 80 |
| Jeff D'Amico | 23 | 135.2 | 9 | 7 | 4.71 | 94 |
| Ben McDonald | 21 | 133.0 | 8 | 7 | 4.06 | 110 |
| Steve Woodard | 7 | 36.2 | 3 | 3 | 5.15 | 32 |
| Jamie McAndrew | 5 | 19.1 | 1 | 1 | 8.38 | 8 |
| Pete Harnisch | 4 | 14.0 | 1 | 1 | 5.14 | 10 |

#### 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 |
| Joel Adamson | 30 | 76.1 | 5 | 3 | 3.54 | 56 |
| Bryce Florie | 32 | 75.0 | 4 | 4 | 4.32 | 53 |

#### 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 |
| Doug Jones | 75 | 6 | 6 | 36 | 2.02 | 82 |
| Bob Wickman | 74 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 2.73 | 78 |
| Mike Fetters | 51 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3.45 | 62 |
| Ron Villone | 50 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.42 | 40 |
| Al Reyes | 19 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5.46 | 28 |
| Mark Davis | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.51 | 14 |
| Ángel Miranda | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 | 8 |
| Mike Misuraca | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.32 | 10 |
| Sean Maloney | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.14 | 5 |
| Greg Hansell | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9.64 | 5 |
| Paul Wagner | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

The Brewers' farm system consisted of seven minor league affiliates in 1997.
| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| Triple-A | Tucson Toros | Pacific Coast League | Tim Ireland and Bob Mariano |
| Double-A | El Paso Diablos | Texas League | Dave Machemer |
| Class A-Advanced | Stockton Ports | California League | Greg Mahlberg |
| Class A | Beloit Snappers | Midwest League | Luis Salazar |
| Rookie | Helena Brewers | Pioneer League | Alex Morales |
| Rookie | Ogden Raptors | Pioneer League | Bernie Moncallo |
| Rookie | DSL Brewers | Dominican Summer League | — |