1997 Atlanta Braves season

The 1997 Atlanta Braves season marked the franchise's 32nd season in Atlanta and 127th overall. The Braves entered the season as defending National League champions, having lost the 1996 World Series to the Yankees in 6 games. They won their seventh consecutive division title, taking the National League East by 9 games over the second place Florida Marlins. However, the Marlins would later defeat the Braves in the NLCS. 1997 was the first year that the Braves played their home games in Turner Field, a reconstruction of the former Centennial Olympic Stadium, which originally served as the main venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Off season

November 20, 1996: John Smoltz was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.
November 25, 1996: Paul Byrd was traded by the New York Mets with a player to be named later to the Atlanta Braves for Greg McMichael. The New York Mets sent Andy Zwirchitz to the Atlanta Braves to complete the trade.
December 19, 1996: Mike Bielecki was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.
March 25, 1997: Kenny Lofton was traded by the Cleveland Indians with Alan Embree to the Atlanta Braves for Marquis Grissom and David Justice.

Regular season

The first game at Turner Field took place on April 4, 1997, with Denny Neagle making the start for the Braves.

Opening day starters

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	Javy López	123	414	122	.295	23	68
1B	Fred McGriff	152	564	156	.277	22	97
2B	Mark Lemke	109	351	86	.245	2	26
SS	Jeff Blauser	151	519	160	.308	17	70
3B	Chipper Jones	157	597	176	.295	21	111
LF	Ryan Klesko	143	467	122	.261	24	84
CF	Kenny Lofton	122	493	164	.333	5	48
RF	Michael Tucker	138	499	141	.283	14	56

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
Andruw Jones	153	399	92	.231	18	70
Eddie Pérez	73	191	41	.215	6	18
Tony Graffanino	104	186	48	.258	8	20
Keith Lockhart	96	147	41	.279	6	32
Danny Bautista	64	103	25	.243	3	9
Mike Mordecai	61	81	14	.173	0	3
Rafael Belliard	72	71	15	.211	1	3
Greg Colbrunn	28	54	15	.278	2	9
Tommy Gregg	13	19	5	.263	0	0
Randall Simon	13	14	6	.429	0	1
Tim Spehr	8	14	3	.214	1	4
Greg Myers	9	9	1	.111	0	1
Ed Giovanola	14	8	2	.250	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
John Smoltz	35	256.0	15	12	3.02	241
Tom Glavine	33	240.0	14	7	2.96	152
Denny Neagle	34	233.1	20	5	2.97	172
Greg Maddux	33	232.2	19	4	2.20	177

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
Kevin Millwood	12	51.1	5	3	4.03	42
Terrell Wade	12	42.0	2	3	5.36	35
Chris Brock	7	30.2	0	0	5.58	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
Mark Wohlers	71	5	7	33	3.50	92
Alan Embree	66	3	1	0	2.54	45
Brad Clontz	51	5	1	1	3.75	42
Mike Bielecki	50	3	7	2	4.08	60
Mike Cather	35	2	4	0	2.39	29
Paul Byrd	31	4	4	0	5.26	37
Chad Fox	30	0	1	0	3.29	28
Joe Borowski	20	2	2	0	3.75	6
Kerry Ligtenberg	15	1	0	1	3.00	19
John LeRoy	1	1	0	0	0.00	3

Turner Field

In 1997, the Braves moved into Turner Field. The ballpark was built across the street from the former home of the Braves, Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, which was demolished in the summer of 1997.
The most popular name choice among Atlanta residents for the new stadium at the time of its construction was Hank Aaron Stadium. After the ballpark was instead named after Ted Turner, the city of Atlanta renamed the section of Capitol Avenue on which the stadium sits Hank Aaron Drive, giving Turner Field the street number 755, after Aaron's home run total.
After the 1996 Summer Olympics were complete the stadium was officially given as a gift to the Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc. Ted Turner, then owner of the Braves, agreed to pay a large sum of the cost to build Centennial Olympic Stadium, if in turn, the stadium was built in a way that it could be converted to a new baseball stadium and that the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games paid for the conversion. This was considered a good agreement for both the Olympic Committee and the Braves, because there would be no use for a permanent 85,000 seat track and field stadium in Downtown Atlanta and the Braves had already been exploring opportunities for a new stadium.

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Greenville