1997 Anaheim Angels season

1997 Anaheim Angels
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1961)
West Division (since 1969)
Location
Anaheim Stadium (since 1966)
Anaheim, CA (since 1966)
Other information
Owner(s)	Gene Autry
General manager(s)	Bill Bavasi
Manager(s)	Terry Collins
Local television	Fox Sports West •Sparky Anderson, Steve Physioc KCAL-9 •Jerry Reuss, Steve Physioc
Local radio	KMPC (AM 710) •Bob Starr, Mario Impemba
Stats	ESPN.com BB-reference
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The Anaheim Angels 1997 season involved the Angels finishing 2nd in the American League west with a record of 84 wins and 78 losses. It was the first season for the franchise as the "Anaheim Angels", after playing under the name of the "California Angels" for the previous 31 seasons, plus part of another.

Offseason

• October 28, 1996: Chili Davis was traded by the Angels to the Kansas City Royals for Mike Bovee and Mark Gubicza.^[1]
• November 12, 1996: Todd Van Poppel was selected off waivers by the Anaheim Angels from the Detroit Tigers.
• November 26, 1996: J. T. Snow was traded by the Anaheim Angels to the San Francisco Giants for Allen Watson and Fausto Macey (minors).^[2]
• December 5, 1996: Jim Leyritz was traded by the New York Yankees to the Anaheim Angels for players to be named later. The Anaheim Angels sent Jeremy Blevins (minors) (December 9, 1996) and Ryan Kane (minors) (December 9, 1996) to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.^[3]
• December 6, 1996: Craig Grebeck was signed as a Free Agent with the Anaheim Angels.^[4]
• March 26, 1997: Todd Van Poppel was released by the Anaheim Angels.
• March 31, 1997: Jim Abbott was released by the Anaheim Angels.^[5]

Regular season

• June 17, 1997: The first interleague game between the Anaheim Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers took place at Dodger Stadium. The rivalry would be known as the Freeway Series. The Dodgers won the game by a score of 4-3.^[6]

Notable transactions

• May 18, 1997: Tony Phillips was traded by the Chicago White Sox with Chad Kreuter to the Anaheim Angels for Chuck McElroy and Jorge Fábregas.^[7]
• July 10, 1997: Greg Cadaret was signed as a Free Agent with the Anaheim Angels.^[8]
• July 29, 1997: Jim Leyritz was traded by the Anaheim Angels with a player to be named later to the Texas Rangers for Ken Hill. The Anaheim Angels sent Rob Sasser (October 31, 1997) to the Texas Rangers to complete the trade.^[3]
• 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

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Seattle Mariners	90	72	0.556	—	45–36	45–36
Anaheim Angels	84	78	0.519	6	46–36	38–42
Texas Rangers	77	85	0.475	13	39–42	38–43
Oakland Athletics	65	97	0.401	25	35–46	30–51

Record vs. opponents

1997 American League Records 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

Roster

1997 Anaheim Angels
Roster
Pitchers 61 Mike Bovee 36 Greg Cadaret 43 Anthony Chavez 41 Rich DeLucia 19 Jason Dickson 31 Chuck Finley 44 Kevin Gross 23 Mark Gubicza 48 Pep Harris 21 Shigetoshi Hasegawa 44 Ken Hill 65 Mike Holtz 46 Mike James 12 Mark Langston 22 Darrell May 17 Chuck McElroy 40 Troy Percival 62 Matt Perisho 35 Dennis Springer 34 Allen Watson 59 Shad Williams		Catchers  7 Angelo Encarnacion 14 Jorge Fábregas  8 Todd Greene  6 Chad Kreuter 13 Jim Leyritz 20 Chris Turner Infielders  5 Luis Alicea  7 George Arias  9 Gary DiSarcina 11 Robert Eenhoorn 27 Darin Erstad  4 Craig Grebeck 10 Dave Hollins 32 Jack Howell 73 Tony Phillips		Outfielders 16 Garret Anderson 25 Jim Edmonds 24 Rickey Henderson  3 Orlando Palmeiro 15 Tim Salmon Other batters 33 Eddie Murray 18 Randy Velarde		Manager  1 Terry Collins Coaches 57 Mick Billmeyer (Bullpen)  2 Larry Bowa (Third Base) 29 Rod Carew (Hitting) 47 Joe Coleman (Bullpen) 53 Marcel Lachemann (Pitching) 70 Joe Maddon (Bench) 39 Dave Parker (First Base)

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	Chad Kreuter	70	218	51	.234	4	18
1B	Darin Erstad	139	539	161	.299	16	77
2B	Luis Alicea	128	388	98	.253	5	37
3B	Dave Hollins	149	572	165	.288	16	85
SS	Gary DiSarcina	154	549	135	.246	4	47
LF	Garret Anderson	154	624	189	.303	8	92
CF	Jim Edmonds	133	502	146	.291	26	80
RF	Tim Salmon	157	582	172	.296	33	129
DH	Eddie Murray	46	160	35	.219	3	15

Other batters

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
Tony Phillips	105	405	107	.264	6	48
Jim Leyritz	84	294	81	.276	11	50
Jack Howell	77	174	45	.259	14	34
Orlando Palmeiro	74	134	29	.216	0	8
Craig Grebeck	63	126	34	.270	1	6
Todd Greene	34	124	36	.290	9	24
Rickey Henderson	32	115	21	.183	2	7
Jorge Fábregas	21	38	3	.079	0	3
Chris Turner	13	23	6	.261	1	2
Robert Eenhoorn	11	20	7	.350	1	6
Angelo Encarnación	11	17	7	.412	1	4
George Arias	3	6	2	.333	0	1
Randy Velarde	1	0	0	.---	0	0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Allen Watson	35	199	12	12	4.93	141
Jason Dickson	33	203.2	13	9	4.29	115
Dennis Springer	32	194.2	9	9	5.18	75
Chuck Finley	25	164	13	6	4.23	155
Ken Hill	12	79	4	4	3.65	38
Mark Langston	9	48	2	4	5.85	30
Matt Perisho	11	45	0	2	6.00	35
Mark Gubicza	2	5	0	1	25.07	5

Other pitchers

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
Shigetoshi Hasegawa	50	117	3	7	3.93	83
Darrell May	29	52	2	1	5.23	42
Kevin Gross	12	25	2	1	6.75	20

Relief pitchers

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
Mike Bovee	3	0	0	0	5.40	5

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Vancouver Canadians	Pacific Coast League	Bruce Hines
AA	Midland Angels	Texas League	Mitch Seoane
A	Lake Elsinore Storm	California League	Don Long
A	Cedar Rapids Kernels	Midwest League	Mario Mendoza
A-Short Season	Boise Hawks	Northwest League	Tom Kotchman
Rookie	Butte Copper Kings	Pioneer League	Bill Lachemann

^[9]

References

1. Chili Davis at Baseball Reference
2. J. T. Snow Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
3. Jim Leyritz Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
4. http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/grebecr01.shtml
5. Jim Abbott Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
6. http://www.thebaseballnexus.com/team_games/ANA/1997
7. Tony Phillips Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
8. http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/cadargr01.shtml
9. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

• 1997 Anaheim Angels at Baseball Reference
• 1997 Anaheim Angels at Baseball Almanac