1997 Milwaukee Brewers season

The 1997 Milwaukee Brewers season involved the Brewers finishing 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.

1997 Milwaukee Brewers
League	American League
Division	Central
Ballpark	Milwaukee County Stadium
City	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Owners	Bud Selig
General managers	Sal Bando
Managers	Phil Garner
Television	WVTV Wisconsin Sports Net (Matt Vasgersian, Bill Schroeder)
Radio	WTMJ (AM) (Bob Uecker, Jim Powell)
← 1996 Seasons 1998 →

Offseason

• November 27, 1996: Jeff Ware was selected off waivers by the Brewers from the Toronto Blue Jays.^[1]
• January 30, 1997: Jack Voigt was signed as a free agent by the Brewers.^[2]

Regular season

(1997)   Jackie Robinson Retired by Major League Baseball

Season standings

v t e AL Central	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Cleveland Indians	86	75	0.534	—	44–37	42–38
Chicago White Sox	80	81	0.497	6	45–36	35–45
Milwaukee Brewers	78	83	0.484	8	47–33	31–50
Minnesota Twins	68	94	0.420	18½	35–46	33–48
Kansas City Royals	67	94	0.416	19	33–47	34–47

Record vs. opponents

1997 American League record v t e Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
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.^[3]
• August 14, 1997: Mark Davis was acquired by the Brewers from the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of a conditional deal.^[4]

Roster

1997 Milwaukee Brewers
Roster
Pitchers 38 Joel Adamson 13 Jeff D'Amico 37,48 Mark Davis 21 Cal Eldred 36 Mike Fetters 39 Bryce Florie 53 Greg Hansell 31 Pete Harnisch 43 Doug Jones 42 Scott Karl 46 Sean Maloney 33 Jamie McAndrew 40 Ben McDonald 41 José Mercedes 25 Ángel Miranda 52 Mike Misuraca 47 Al Reyes 49 Ron Villone 46 Paul Wagner 27 Bob Wickman 37,48 Steve Woodard		Catchers 16 Jesse Levis 22 Mike Matheny  5 Kelly Stinnett Infielders 26 Jeff Cirillo 51 Eddy Díaz 25 Julio Franco 15 Jeff Huson 32 John Jaha  8 Mark Loretta 14 Dave Nilsson  9 Tim Unroe  2 José Valentín  1 Fernando Viña 29 Gerald Williams 11 Antone Williamson		Outfielders  7 Brian Banks 20 Jeromy Burnitz 24 Chuck Carr 18 Todd Dunn 24 Darrin Jackson 30 Matt Mieske 10 Marc Newfield 28 Jack Voigt		Manager  3 Phil Garner Coaches 12 Chris Bando (Third Base) 35 Bill Castro (Bullpen) 17 Jim Gantner (First Base) 23 Lamar Johnson (Hitting) 45 Don Rowe (Pitching)

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

^[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

See also: Minor League Baseball

The Brewers' farm system consisted of seven minor league affiliates in 1997.^[6]

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	—

Notes

1. Jeff Ware page at Baseball Reference
2. Jack Voigt page at Baseball Reference
3. Julio Franco page at Baseball Reference
4. Mark Davis page at Baseball Reference
5. 1997 Milwaukee Brewers Statistics and Roster - Baseball-Reference.com
6. "1997 Milwaukee Brewers Minor League Affiliates". Baseball-Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved December 30, 2020.

References

• 1997 Milwaukee Brewers team page at Baseball Reference
• 1997 Milwaukee Brewers team page at www.baseball-almanac.com