1997 New York Yankees season

The 1997 New York Yankees season was the 95th season for the Yankees. New York was managed by Joe Torre and played at Yankee Stadium. The team finished with a record of 96–66 finishing 2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. They entered the postseason as the American League Wild Card, but lost the Division Series in 5 games to the Cleveland Indians. The 1997 Yankees failed to repeat as World Series Champions and win their second consecutive title.

Offseason

October 2, 1996: Pat Listach was sent by the New York Yankees to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete an earlier deal made on August 23, 1996. The New York Yankees sent Bob Wickman and Gerald Williams to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named later, Pat Listach, and Graeme Lloyd. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Ricky Bones to the New York Yankees to complete the trade. Pat Listach returned to original teams on October 2, 1996.
November 4, 1996: Clay Bellinger was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
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 and Ryan Kane to the New York Yankees to complete the trade.
December 11, 1996: Mike Stanton was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
January 9, 1997: Mark Whiten was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.
January 9, 1997: Luis Sojo was signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees.

Notable transaction chart

June 9, 1997: Dave Weathers was traded by the New York Yankees to the Cleveland Indians for Chad Curtis.
July 29, 1997: Mariano Duncan was traded by the New York Yankees with cash to the Toronto Blue Jays for Angel Ramirez.
August 15, 1997: Mark Whiten was released by the New York Yankees.

Season summary

June

On June 16: The first interleague game between the New York Mets and New York Yankees took place at Yankee Stadium. The Mets won the game by a score of 6–0.

August

On August 31: The New York Yankees retired Don Mattingly's number.

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
C	Joe Girardi	112	398	105	.264	1	50
1B	Tino Martinez	158	594	176	.296	44	141
2B	Luis Sojo	77	215	66	.307	2	25
SS	Derek Jeter	159	654	190	.291	10	70
3B	Charlie Hayes	100	353	91	.258	11	53
LF	Tim Raines	74	271	87	.321	4	38
CF	Bernie Williams	129	509	167	.328	21	100
RF	Paul O'Neill	149	553	179	.324	21	117
DH	Cecil Fielder	98	361	94	.260	13	61

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
Wade Boggs	103	353	103	.292	4	28
Chad Curtis	93	320	93	.291	12	50
Mark Whiten	69	215	57	.265	5	24
Jorge Posada	60	188	47	.250	6	25
Mariano Duncan	50	172	42	.244	1	13
Rey Sánchez	38	138	43	.312	1	15
Pat Kelly	67	120	29	.242	2	10
Mike Stanley	28	87	25	.287	3	12
Scott Pose	54	87	19	.218	0	5
Andy Fox	22	31	7	.226	0	1
Darryl Strawberry	11	29	3	.103	0	2
Iván Cruz	11	20	5	.250	0	3
Pete Incaviglia	5	16	4	.250	0	0
Homer Bush	10	11	4	.364	0	3
Mike Figga	2	4	0	.000	0	0

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
Andy Pettitte	35	240.1	18	7	2.88	166
David Wells	32	218.0	16	10	4.21	156
David Cone	29	195.0	12	6	2.82	222
Dwight Gooden	20	106.1	9	5	4.91	66

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
Kenny Rogers	31	145.0	6	7	5.65	78
Ramiro Mendoza	39	133.2	8	6	4.24	82
Hideki Irabu	13	53.1	5	4	7.09	56
Willie Banks	5	14.0	3	0	1.93	8

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
Mariano Rivera	66	6	4	43	1.88	68
Jeff Nelson	77	3	7	2	2.86	81
Mike Stanton	64	6	1	3	2.57	70
Graeme Lloyd	46	1	1	1	3.31	26
Brian Boehringer	34	3	2	0	2.63	53
Jim Mecir	25	0	4	0	5.88	25
David Weathers	10	0	1	0	10.00	4
Danny Rios	2	0	0	0	19.29	1
Joe Borowski	1	0	1	0	9.00	2
Wade Boggs	1	0	0	0	0.00	1

ALDS

Game 1

September 30, Yankee Stadium

Awards and records

Tino Martinez, Silver Slugger Award