# 1997 Texas Rangers season

The 1997 Texas Rangers season was the 37th of the Texas Rangers franchise overall, their 26th in Arlington as the Rangers, and their 4th season at The Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers finished third in the American League West with a record of 77 wins and 85 losses. Despite not making the playoffs the club would set an all-time attendance record of over 2.945 million fans, which would be the franchise's best until 2011.
On a somber note, the club would lose long-time radio broadcaster Mark Holtz to leukemia during the season; however, in his final game in May the Rangers won, allowing him to sign off one final time with his trademark "Hello Win Column!".

## Offseason

* December 10, 1996: Billy Ripken was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
* December 16, 1996: Scott Bailes was signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.
* December 19, 1996: Mike Simms was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
* March 27, 1997: Dave Silvestri was selected off waivers by the Rangers from the Seattle Mariners.

## Regular season

* June 12, 1997: The first interleague game took place as the Texas Rangers hosted the San Francisco Giants at The Ballpark in Arlington (now Globe Life Park).

### Opening Day starters

* Mark McLemore, 2B
* Iván Rodríguez, C
* Rusty Greer, LF
* Dean Palmer, 3B
* Lee Stevens, 1B
* Mickey Tettleton, DH
* Warren Newson, RF
* Damon Buford, CF
* Benji Gil, SS

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Seattle Mariners | 90 | 72 | .556 | — | 45‍–‍36 | 45‍–‍36 |
| Anaheim Angels | 84 | 78 | .519 | 6 | 46‍–‍36 | 38‍–‍42 |
| Texas Rangers | 77 | 85 | .475 | 13 | 39‍–‍42 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Oakland Athletics | 65 | 97 | .401 | 25 | 35‍–‍46 | 30‍–‍51 |

### 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

* April 16, 1997: Alex Diaz was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
* June 20, 1997: Todd Van Poppel was signed as a free agent by the Rangers.
* July 29, 1997: Ken Hill was traded by the Rangers to the Anaheim Angels for Jim Leyritz and a player to be named later. The Angels completed the deal by sending Rob Sasser to the Rangers on October 31.

#### Draft picks

* June 3, 1997: Mike Lamb was drafted by the Rangers in the 7th round of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed June 6, 1997.

### 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 | Iván Rodríguez | 150 | 597 | 187 | .313 | 20 | 77 |
| 1B | Will Clark | 110 | 393 | 128 | .326 | 12 | 51 |
| 2B | Mark McLemore | 89 | 349 | 91 | .261 | 1 | 25 |
| SS | Benji Gil | 110 | 317 | 71 | .224 | 5 | 31 |
| 3B | Dean Palmer | 94 | 355 | 87 | .245 | 14 | 55 |
| LF | Rusty Greer | 157 | 601 | 193 | .321 | 26 | 87 |
| CF | Damon Buford | 122 | 366 | 82 | .224 | 8 | 39 |
| RF | Warren Newson | 81 | 169 | 36 | .213 | 10 | 23 |
| DH | Juan González | 133 | 533 | 158 | .296 | 42 | 131 |

#### 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 |
| Lee Stevens | 137 | 426 | 128 | .300 | 21 | 74 |
| Domingo Cedeño | 113 | 365 | 103 | .282 | 4 | 36 |
| Fernando Tatis | 60 | 223 | 57 | .256 | 8 | 29 |
| Tom Goodwin | 53 | 207 | 49 | .237 | 0 | 17 |
| Billy Ripken | 71 | 203 | 56 | .276 | 3 | 24 |
| Mike Simms | 59 | 111 | 28 | .252 | 5 | 22 |
| Alex Diaz | 28 | 90 | 20 | .222 | 2 | 12 |
| Jim Leyritz | 37 | 85 | 24 | .282 | 0 | 14 |
| Mike Devereaux | 29 | 72 | 15 | .208 | 0 | 7 |
| Henry Mercedes | 23 | 47 | 10 | .213 | 0 | 4 |
| Mickey Tettleton | 17 | 44 | 4 | .091 | 3 | 4 |
| Marc Sagmoen | 21 | 43 | 6 | .140 | 1 | 4 |
| Hanley Frias | 14 | 26 | 5 | .192 | 0 | 1 |
| Kevin Brown | 4 | 5 | 2 | .400 | 1 | 1 |
| Dave Silvestri | 2 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### 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 |
| Bobby Witt | 34 | 209.0 | 12 | 12 | 4.82 | 121 |
| Darren Oliver | 32 | 201.1 | 13 | 12 | 4.20 | 104 |
| John Burkett | 30 | 189.1 | 9 | 12 | 4.56 | 139 |
| Ken Hill | 19 | 111.0 | 5 | 8 | 5.19 | 68 |
| Roger Pavlik | 11 | 57.2 | 3 | 5 | 4.37 | 35 |
| Rick Helling | 10 | 55.0 | 3 | 3 | 4.58 | 46 |

#### 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 |
| Julio Santana | 30 | 104.0 | 4 | 6 | 6.75 | 64 |
| Tanyon Sturtze | 9 | 32.2 | 1 | 1 | 8.27 | 18 |
| Terry Clark | 9 | 30.2 | 1 | 4 | 5.87 | 11 |
| Jose Alberro | 10 | 28.1 | 0 | 3 | 7.94 | 11 |

#### 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 |
| John Wetteland | 61 | 7 | 2 | 31 | 1.94 | 63 |
| Eric Gunderson | 60 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3.26 | 31 |
| Danny Patterson | 54 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3.42 | 69 |
| Xavier Hernandez | 44 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4.56 | 36 |
| Matt Whiteside | 42 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5.08 | 44 |
| Ed Vosberg | 42 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4.61 | 29 |
| Scott Bailes | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.86 | 14 |
| Wilson Heredia | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3.20 | 8 |
| Eric Moody | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.26 | 12 |
| Bryan Eversgerd | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20.25 | 2 |

## Awards and honors

* Juan González, Silver Slugger Award
* Iván Rodríguez, C, Gold Glove
* Iván Rodríguez, Silver Slugger Award
All-Star Game

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Oklahoma City 89ers | American Association | Greg Biagini |
| AA | Tulsa Drillers | Texas League | Bobby Jones |
| A | Charlotte Rangers | Florida State League | Butch Wynegar |
| Rookie | Pulaski Rangers | Appalachian League | Julio Cruz |
| Rookie | GCL Rangers | Gulf Coast League | Jim Byrd |