- 1997 Minnesota Twins season
MLB yearly infobox
name = Minnesota Twins
season = 1997
misc =
current league = American League
y1 = 1901
division = Central Division
y2 = 1994
Uniform
ballpark =Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
y4 = 1982
city =Minneapolis
y5 = 1982
owners =Carl Pohlad
managers = Tom Kelly
television =WCCO-TV
Midwest Sports Channel
(Bert Blyleven ,Dick Bremer ,Ryan Lefebvre )
radio = 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal ,John Gordon)|The 1997Minnesota Twins will not be remembered as the strongest team the Twins ever fielded. Manager Tom Kelly's team consisted of a few solid players, but mainly past-their-prime veterans and never-to-be-established prospects. One of the few bright spots was pitcherBrad Radke ’s breakout season. The team finished with a 68-94 record, good enough for fourth place in the league’s weakest division.Offseason
*November 4: Signed
Juan Rincon as an amateur free agent.
*December 5: Signed catcher and Minnesota nativeTerry Steinbach as a free agent.
*December 12: Signed pitcherBob Tewksbury as a free agent.
*December 18: Signed pitcherGreg Swindell as a free agent. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/swindgr01.shtml Greg Swindell Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com ] ]Offense
In 1996, catcher
Terry Steinbach had a 35-home run, 100-RBI season with theOakland Athletics in a contract year. Unfortunately for the Twins, he followed it up with a 12-home run, 54-RBI season with his hometown team.Scott Stahoviak played in half the games at first base but batted only .229. Second basemanChuck Knoblauch , the team’s lone all-star, had a great year with the Twins, batting .291 and stealing a career-high 62 bases. The contrast between his season and his team’s season led him to demand a trade, a demand the team obliged by sending him to theNew York Yankees the following February.Ron Coomer had a competent year at third, hitting .298 with 13 home runs.Pat Meares hit .276, an above-average season for him. The primary outfielders –Marty Cordova ,Rich Becker , andMatt Lawton – had mediocre seasons. This was disappointing, because Cordova and Becker were coming off of the best years in their careers.Designated hitter Paul Molitor had a good year, batting .305 with 89 RBI, but it did not match his stellar 1996 numbers. Veterans likeRoberto Kelly andGreg Colbrunn performed reasonably well off the bench.: "Number indicates playoff seeding"
Roster
Pitching
tarting pitchers
Miscellaneous
*The highest paid Twin in 1997 was Knoblauch at $6,150,000, followed by Molitor at $3,500,000.
Awards and Honors
*
Paul Molitor ,Lou Gehrig Award All-Star Game
*The lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was second basemanChuck Knoblauch .External links
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/1997.shtml Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com]
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1997&t=MIN Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com]
* [http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/min/history/timeline4.jsp Twins history through the 1990s, from www.mlb.com]
* [http://shrpsports.com/mlb/stand/1997finaldiv.htm 1997 Standings]
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