# 1997 San Diego Padres season

The 1997 San Diego Padres season was the 29th season in franchise history. The Padres finished last in the National League West. Right fielder (and future Hall of Famer) Tony Gwynn had the highest batting average in the majors, at .372.
In April, the Padres played three home games at the Aloha Stadium in Hawaii against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals won the opening two games (a doubleheader) on April 19, winning the first 1-0 and the second 2-1 before the Padres won game 3 on Sunday April 20 by a score of 8-2. Reported attendances were 37,382 (games 1 and 2) and 40,050 (game 3).

## Regular season
### Transactions

* June 13, 1997: Fernando Valenzuela was traded by the San Diego Padres with Scott Livingstone and Phil Plantier to the St. Louis Cardinals for Rich Batchelor, Danny Jackson, and Mark Sweeney.
* August 13, 1997: Rickey Henderson was traded by the San Diego Padres to the Anaheim Angels for a player to be named later, Ryan Hancock, and Stevenson Agosto (minors). The Anaheim Angels sent George Arias (August 19, 1997) to the San Diego Padres to complete the trade.

### Season standings

vteNL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| San Francisco Giants | 90 | 72 | .556 | — | 48‍–‍33 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 88 | 74 | .543 | 2 | 47‍–‍34 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Colorado Rockies | 83 | 79 | .512 | 7 | 47‍–‍34 | 36‍–‍45 |
| San Diego Padres | 76 | 86 | .469 | 14 | 39‍–‍42 | 37‍–‍44 |

### Record vs. opponents

1997 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL | FLA | HOU | LA | MTL | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL | AL |
| Atlanta | — | 9–2 | 9–2 | 5–6 | 4–8 | 7–4 | 6–5 | 10–2 | 5–7 | 10–2 | 5–6 | 8–3 | 7–4 | 8–3 | 7–5 |
| Chicago | 2–9 | — | 7–5 | 2–9 | 2–9 | 3–9 | 5–6 | 4–7 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 7–5 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 4–8 | 9–6 |
| Cincinnati | 2–9 | 5–7 | — | 5–6 | 5–6 | 5–7 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 2–9 | 8–3 | 8–4 | 5–6 | 4–7 | 6–6 | 9–6 |
| Colorado | 6–5 | 9–2 | 6–5 | — | 7–4 | 5–6 | 5–7 | 7–4 | 6–5 | 4–7 | 4–7 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 7–4 | 9–7 |
| Florida | 8–4 | 9–2 | 6–5 | 4–7 | — | 7–4 | 7–4 | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–6 | 7–4 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 5–6 | 12–3 |
| Houston | 4–7 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 6–5 | 4–7 | — | 7–4 | 8–3 | 7–4 | 4–7 | 6–6 | 6–5 | 3–8 | 9–3 | 4–11 |
| Los Angeles | 5–6 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 7–5 | 4–7 | 4–7 | — | 7–4 | 6–5 | 10–1 | 9–2 | 5–7 | 6–6 | 5–6 | 9–7 |
| Montreal | 2–10 | 7–4 | 5–6 | 4–7 | 5–7 | 3–8 | 4–7 | — | 5–7 | 6–6 | 5–6 | 8–3 | 6–5 | 6–5 | 12–3 |
| New York | 7–5 | 5–6 | 9–2 | 5–6 | 8–4 | 4–7 | 5–6 | 7–5 | — | 7–5 | 7–4 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 9–2 | 7–8 |
| Philadelphia | 2-10 | 5–6 | 3–8 | 7–4 | 6–6 | 7–4 | 1–10 | 6–6 | 5–7 | — | 5–6 | 7–4 | 3–8 | 6–5 | 5–10 |
| Pittsburgh | 6–5 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 7–4 | 4–7 | 6–6 | 2–9 | 6–5 | 4–7 | 6–5 | — | 5–6 | 8–3 | 9–3 | 7–8 |
| San Diego | 3–8 | 5–6 | 6–5 | 8–4 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 7–5 | 3–8 | 6–5 | 4–7 | 6–5 | — | 4–8 | 5–6 | 8–8 |
| San Francisco | 4–7 | 6–5 | 7–4 | 8–4 | 6–5 | 8–3 | 6–6 | 5–6 | 8–3 | 8–3 | 3–8 | 8–4 | — | 3–8 | 10–6 |
| St. Louis | 3–8 | 8–4 | 6–6 | 4–7 | 6–5 | 3-9 | 6–5 | 5–6 | 2–9 | 5–6 | 3–9 | 6–5 | 8–3 | — | 8–7 |

### 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 | John Flaherty | 129 | 439 | 120 | .273 | 9 | 46 |
| 1B | Wally Joyner | 135 | 455 | 149 | .327 | 13 | 83 |
| 2B | Quilvio Veras | 145 | 539 | 143 | .265 | 3 | 45 |
| SS | Chris Gomez | 150 | 522 | 132 | .253 | 5 | 54 |
| 3B | Ken Caminiti | 137 | 486 | 141 | .290 | 26 | 90 |
| LF | Greg Vaughn | 120 | 361 | 78 | .216 | 18 | 57 |
| CF | Steve Finley | 143 | 560 | 146 | .261 | 28 | 92 |
| RF | Tony Gwynn | 149 | 592 | 220 | .372 | 17 | 119 |

#### 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 |
| Rickey Henderson | 88 | 288 | 79 | .274 | 6 | 27 |
| Archi Cianfrocco | 89 | 220 | 54 | .245 | 4 | 26 |
| Chris Jones | 92 | 152 | 37 | .243 | 7 | 25 |
| Craig Shipley | 63 | 139 | 38 | .273 | 5 | 19 |
| Carlos Hernández | 50 | 134 | 42 | .313 | 3 | 14 |
| Mark Sweeney | 71 | 103 | 33 | .320 | 2 | 19 |
| Trey Beamon | 43 | 65 | 18 | .277 | 0 | 7 |
| Derrek Lee | 22 | 54 | 14 | .259 | 1 | 4 |
| Mandy Romero | 21 | 48 | 10 | .208 | 2 | 4 |
| Terry Shumpert | 13 | 33 | 9 | .273 | 1 | 6 |
| Jorge Velandia | 14 | 29 | 3 | .103 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Livingstone | 23 | 26 | 4 | .154 | 0 | 3 |
| George Arias | 11 | 22 | 5 | .227 | 0 | 2 |
| Don Slaught | 20 | 20 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Rubén Rivera | 17 | 20 | 5 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| Phil Plantier | 10 | 8 | 1 | .125 | 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 |
| Andy Ashby | 30 | 200.2 | 9 | 11 | 4.13 | 144 |
| Joey Hamilton | 31 | 192.2 | 12 | 7 | 4.25 | 124 |
| Sterling Hitchcock | 32 | 161.0 | 10 | 11 | 5.20 | 106 |
| Fernando Valenzuela | 13 | 66.1 | 2 | 8 | 4.75 | 51 |
| Paul Menhart | 9 | 44.0 | 2 | 3 | 4.70 | 22 |

#### 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 |
| Pete Smith | 37 | 118.0 | 7 | 6 | 4.81 | 68 |
| Tim Worrell | 60 | 106.1 | 4 | 8 | 5.16 | 81 |
| Sean Bergman | 44 | 99.0 | 2 | 4 | 6.09 | 74 |
| Will Cunnane | 54 | 91.1 | 6 | 3 | 5.81 | 79 |
| Danny Jackson | 13 | 49.0 | 1 | 7 | 7.53 | 19 |
| Heath Murray | 17 | 33.1 | 1 | 2 | 6.75 | 16 |

##### 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 |
| Trevor Hoffman | 70 | 6 | 4 | 37 | 2.66 | 111 |
| Doug Bochtler | 54 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 4.77 | 46 |
| Jim Bruske | 28 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3.63 | 32 |
| Dario Veras | 23 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5.11 | 21 |
| Tim Scott | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7.85 | 14 |
| Rich Batchelor | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7.82 | 10 |
| Terry Burrows | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10.45 | 8 |
| Marc Kroon | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.35 | 12 |
| Todd Erdos | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5.27 | 13 |
| Joey Long | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.18 | 8 |

## League Honors
### All-Stars

* Ken Caminiti, starting 3B
* Steve Finley
* Tony Gwynn, starting DH

### Awards

* Gold Glove: Ken Caminiti (3B)
* Silver Slugger Award: Tony Gwynn (OF)

### Statistical Leaders

* Tony Gwynn: Batting Champion (.372)

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Las Vegas Stars | Pacific Coast League | Jerry Royster |
| AA | Mobile BayBears | Southern League | Mike Ramsey |
| A | Rancho Cucamonga Quakes | California League | Mike Basso |
| A | Clinton LumberKings | Midwest League | Tom LeVasseur |
| Rookie | AZL Padres | Arizona League | Randy Whisler |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Braves | Pioneer League | Don Werner |