1997 Chicago Cubs season

The 1997 Chicago Cubs season was the 126th season of the Chicago Cubs franchise, the 122nd in the National League and the 82nd at Wrigley Field. The Cubs finished fifth and last in the National League Central with a record of 68–94. The team never had a record above .500 at any point during the season.

1997 Chicago Cubs
Major League affiliations
Location
Results
Record68–94 (.420)
Divisional place5th
Other information
OwnersTribune Company
General managersEd Lynch
ManagersJim Riggleman
Local televisionWGN-TV/Superstation WGN/Chicagoland TV
(Harry Caray, Steve Stone, Josh Lewin)
Local radioWGN
(Pat Hughes, Ron Santo, Harry Caray, Josh Lewin)
StatsESPN.com
BB-reference
< Previous season     Next season >

The Cubs lost the first 14 games of the season, before finally winning the second game of a double-header against the New York Mets. The 0–14 start brought the superstition of the "billy goat curse" to the forefront, and at one point a goat was actually led around Wrigley Field in an effort to end the curse.

This was also Harry Caray's final season as broadcaster for the Cubs, as he died on February 18, 1998 (two months after his grandson Chip Caray was hired to share play-by-play duties with him). The team would wear a patch with his likeness that year.

Offseason
  • December 10, 1996: Mel Rojas was signed as a free agent with the Chicago Cubs.[1]

Regular season
  • June 16 – The first interleague game between the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox took place at the new Comiskey Park. The Cubs won the game by a score of 8–3.[2]

Season standings
NL Central W L Pct. GB Home Road
Houston Astros 8478 0.519 — 46–35 38–43
Pittsburgh Pirates 7983 0.488 5 43–38 36–45
Cincinnati Reds 7686 0.469 8 40–41 36–45
St. Louis Cardinals 7389 0.451 11 41–40 32–49
Chicago Cubs 6894 0.420 16 42–39 26–55

Record vs. opponents
1997 National League record

Sources:
Team ATL CHC CIN COL FLA HOU LA MTL NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL AL
Atlanta—9–29–25–64–87–46–510–25–710–25–68–37–48–37–5
Chicago2–9—7–52–92–93–95–64–76–56–57–56–55–64–89–6
Cincinnati2–95–7—5–65–65–76–56–52–98–38–45–64–76–69–6
Colorado 6–59–26–5—7–45–65–77–46–54–74–74–84–87–49–7
Florida8–49–26–54–7—7–47–47–54–86–67–45–65–65–612–3
Houston4–79–37–56–54–7—7–48–37–44–76–66–53–89–34–11
Los Angeles 5–66–55–67–54–74–7—7–46–510–19–25–76–65–69–7
Montreal2–107–45–64–75–73–84–7—5–76–65–68–36–56–512–3
New York7–55–69–25–68–44–75–67–5—7–57–45–63–89–27–8
Philadelphia2-105–63–87–46–67–41–106–65–7—5–67–43–86–55–10
Pittsburgh6–55–74–87–44–76–62–96–54–76–5—5–68–39–37–8
San Diego3–85–66–58–46–55–67–53–86–54–76–5—4–85–68–8
San Francisco4–76–57–48–46–58–36–65–68–38–33–88–4—3–810–6
St. Louis3–88–46–64–76–53-96–55–62–95–63–96–58–3—8–7

Notable Transactions
  • July 12, 1997: Carlos Zambrano was signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent.[3]
  • August 8, 1997: Brian McRae was traded by the Chicago Cubs with Mel Rojas and Turk Wendell to the New York Mets for players to be named later and Lance Johnson. The New York Mets sent Mark Clark (August 11, 1997) and Manny Alexander (August 14, 1997) to the Chicago Cubs to complete the trade.[4]

Roster
1997 Chicago Cubs
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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
CScott Servais122385100.260645
1BMark Grace151555177.3191378
2BRyne Sandberg135447118.2641264
SSShawon Dunston114419119.284941
3BKevin Orie114364100.275844
LFDoug Glanville146474142.300435
CFBrian McRae108417100.240628
RFSammy Sosa162642161.25136119

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
Rey Sánchez9720551.249112
Tyler Houston7219651.260228
José Hernández12118350.273726
Dave Hansen9015147.311321
Lance Johnson3914544.303415
Dave Clark10214343.301532
Brant Brown4613732.234515
Manny Alexander339929.29317
Brooks Kieschnick399018.200412
Mike Hubbard296413.20312
Miguel Cairo16297.24101
Robin Jennings9183.16702
Terrell Lowery9144.28600

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
Steve Trachsel34201.18124.51160
Terry Mulholland25157.06124.0774
Kevin Foster26146.11074.61118
Geremi González23144.01194.2593
Frank Castillo2098.0695.4267
Kevin Tapani1385.0933.3955
Mark Clark963.0612.8651
Dave Swartzbaugh28.0019.004

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
Amaury Telemaco1038.0036.1629
Miguel Batista1136.1055.7027
Rodney Myers59.0006.006

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
Terry Adams7429184.6264
Bob Patterson761603.3458
Kent Bottenfield642323.8674
Ramón Tatís561105.3433
Mel Rojas540434.4261
Turk Wendell523544.2054
Marc Pisciotta243103.1821
Larry Casian120107.457
Dave Stevens100209.6413
Ramón Morel30004.913

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Iowa Cubs American Association Tim Johnson
AA Orlando Rays Southern League Dave Trembley
A Daytona Cubs Florida State League Steve Roadcap
A Rockford Cubbies Midwest League Rubén Amaro, Sr.
A-Short Season Williamsport Cubs New York–Penn League Bobby Ralston
Rookie AZL Cubs Arizona League Terry Kennedy

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: AZL Cubs[5]

References
  1. Mel Rojas Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  2. "Box Score of Game played on Monday, June 16, 1997 at Comiskey Park II".
  3. "Carlos Zambrano Stats".
  4. Brian McRae Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  5. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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