1997 American League

Baltimore and New York had the best regular season records as East Division and Wild Card winners, respectively, but Cleveland won the Central crown and their second pennant in three years. Seattle took the West, and Anaheim was the only other AL team over .500. Oakland lost 97 games for the league's worst record. Baltimore beat Seattle and Cleveland beat New York in the Division Series, then the Indians topped the Orioles in six in the ALCS.

Frank Thomas easily took the batting average race with a .347 mark. Edgar Martinez was second at .330, followed by David Justice at .329 and Manny Ramirez and Bernie Williams at .328. Ken Griffey, Jr. led the loop with 125 runs and Nomar Garciaparra was second with 122. Garciaparra led the way with 209 hits. John Valentin led with 47 doubles and Jeff Cirillo had 46. Garciaparra produced 11 triples, Chuck Knoblauch 10.

Griffey chased history and ended with 56 home runs, Tino Martinez placing second with 44. Juan Gonzalez had 42, Jay Buhner and Jim Thome 40. Griffey also led with 147 RBI, Martinez had 141, Gonzalez 131. Brian Hunter had 74 steals, Knoblauch 62 and Tom Goodwin 50. Martinez and Thomas posted .456 on-base averages, Griffey led with a .647 slugging.

Roger Clemens led the way with 21 wins, while Randy Johnson and Brad Radke were 20-game winners. Clemens completed a pitcher's Triple Crown by leading in ERA with 2.05 and strikeouts with 292. Johnson was second in ERA with 2.29 and strikeouts with 291. Third place in ERA went to David Cone at 2.82 and Andy Pettitte put up a 2.88 mark. Cone was also third in strikeouts with 222, Mike Mussina fourth with 218. Randy Myers led with 45 saves, Mariano Rivera had 43.

Win Shares leaders, players; Frank Thomas (Chicago) 39, Ken Griffey (Seattle) 36, Tim Salmon (Anaheim) 29, Paul O'Neill (New York) 28, Tino Martinez (New York) and Edgar Martinez (Seattle) 27, Brady Anderson (Baltimore), Nomar Garciaparra (Boston), David Justice and Jim Thome (Cleveland) and Ivan Rodriguez (Texas) 26, Bobby Higginson (Detroit) 25, Tony Clark (Detroit), Jeff Cirillo (Milwaukee) and Bernie Williams (New York) 24, Chuck Knoblauch (Minnesota) 23, Mo Vaughn (Boston) and Alex Rodriguez (Seattle) 22, Roberto Alomar (Baltimore), John Valentin (Boston), Manny Ramirez (Cleveland), Jay Bell (Kansas City) and Dan Wilson (Seattle) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Roger Clemens (Toronto) 32, Randy Johnson (Seattle) 23, Justin Thompson (Detroit) 21, Andy Pettitte (New York) 20, Mike Mussina (Baltimore), Doug Jones (Milwaukee) and Pat Hentgen (Toronto) 19, Kevin Appier (Kansas City) 18, Jimmy Key (Baltimore) and Jeff Fassero (Seattle) 17, Scott Erickson (Baltimore), Brad Radke (Minnesota), David Cone (New York) and John Wetteland (Texas) 16.

WARP3 scores: Thomas 10.4, Griffey 12.4, Salmon 8.3, O'Neill 9.0, T. Martinez 10.2 (peak season), E. Martinez 9.6, Anderson 7.8, Garciaparra 9.0 (rookie), Justice 8.4 (best year), Thome 7.9, I. Rodriguez 10.7, Higginson 8.4, Clark 6.8 (best season), Cirillo 8.5, Williams 8.6, Knoblauch 7.8, Vaughn 7.0, A. Rodriguez 7.5, Alomar 7.5, Valentin 9.4, Ramirez 9.1, Bell 10.2, Wilson 7.6 (best year).

Pitchers, Clemens 14.8 (best year), Johnson 11.1, Thompson 9.7 (career year), Pettitte 9.9 (best year), Mussina 8.2, Jones 8.2 (last big year), Hentgen 8.8, Appier 8.4, Key 7.7 (last good year), Fassero 8.2, Erickson 6.9, Radke 8.3, Cone 7.3, Wetteland 6.8.

WAR for position players: Griffey 9.4, Thomas 7.3, Garciaparra 6.6, Martinez and I. Rodriguez 6.4, Knoblauch 6.3, Bell 5.6, T. Martinez 5.5, Thome and B. Williams 5.3, Cirillo 5.1, Jeromy Burnitz (Milwaukee) 5.0, Ramirez 4.8, Salmon 4.7, A. Rodriguez 4.6, Cameron and Valentin 4.5. WAR for pitchers: Clemens 11.1, Pettitte 7.4, Johnson 7.0, Mussina and Radke 5.5, Appier 5.3, Burkett, Cone, and Gordon 5.0, Fassero and Thompson 4.9, Erickson 4.7, Tewksbury and Wells 4.4, Hentgen 4.2. Actual Award Winners:
MVP (top 15): | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+
1 Ken Griffey SEA 28 392 392 1.00 | 608 185 56 .304 1.028 15|
2 Tino Martinez NYY 0 248 392 0.63 | 594 176 44 .296 .948 3|
3 Frank Thomas CHW 0 172 392 0.44 | 530 184 35 .347 1.067 1|
4 Randy Myers BAL 0 128 392 0.33 | | 2-3 60 1.51 1.16 56 45
5 David Justice CLE 0 90 392 0.23 | 495 163 33 .329 1.013 3|
6 Jim Thome CLE 0 89 392 0.23 | 496 142 40 .286 1.001 1|
7 Tim Salmon ANA 0 84 392 0.21 | 582 172 33 .296 .911 9|
8 Nomar Garciaparra BOS 0 83 392 0.21 | 684 209 30 .306 .875 22|
9 Juan Gonzalez TEX 0 66 392 0.17 | 533 158 42 .296 .924 0|
10 Roger Clemens TOR 0 56 392 0.14 | 2 1 0 .500 1.667 0| 21-7 264 2.05 1.03 292
11 Randy Johnson SEA 0 42 392 0.11 | | 20-4 213 2.28 1.05 291
12 Paul O'Neill NYY 0 37 392 0.09 | 553 179 21 .324 .912 10|
13 Rafael Palmeiro BAL 0 36 392 0.09 | 614 156 38 .254 .815 5|
14 Sandy Alomar CLE 0 22 392 0.06 | 451 146 21 .324 .900 0|
14 Edgar Martinez SEA 0 22 392 0.06 | 542 179 28 .330 1.009 2|
Griffey was an easy winner.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Roger Clemens TOR 25 134 140 0.96 | 21-7 264 2.05 1.03 292
2 Randy Johnson SEA 2 77 140 0.55 | 20-4 213 2.28 1.05 291
3 Brad Radke MIN 0 17 140 0.12 | 20-10 240 3.87 1.19 174
4 Randy Myers BAL 1 14 140 0.10 | 2-3 60 1.51 1.16 56 45
5 Andy Pettitte NYY 0 9 140 0.06 | 18-7 240 2.88 1.24 166
6 Mike Mussina BAL 0 1 140 0.01 | 15-8 225 3.20 1.12 218
What idiot voted for Myers?

Rookie: Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+----
1 Nomar Garciaparra BOS 28 140 140 1.00 | 684 209 30 .306 .875 22|
2 Jose Cruz TOT 0 61 140 0.44 | +395 98 26 .248 .814 7|
3 Jason Dickson ANA 0 27 140 0.19 | 2 0 0 .000 .000 0| 13-9 204 4.29 1.43 115
4 Deivi Cruz DET 0 12 140 0.09 | 436 105 2 .241 .577 3|
5 Jaret Wright CLE 0 7 140 0.05 | 3 0 0 .000 .000 0| 8-3 90 4.38 1.28 63
6 Mike Cameron CHW 0 5 140 0.04 | 379 98 14 .259 .789 23|

Manager:
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---------+-----+
1 Davey Johnson BAL 10 88 140 0.63 | 98-64 1
2 Buddy Bell DET 4 50 140 0.36 | 79-83 3
3 Phil Garner MIL 5 42 140 0.30 | 78-83 3
4 Lou Piniella SEA 3 30 140 0.21 | 90-72 1
5 Terry Collins ANA 4 24 140 0.17 | 84-78 2
6 Mike Hargrove CLE 2 13 140 0.09 | 86-75 1
7 Joe Torre NYY 0 5 140 0.04 | 96-66 2

A very divided vote.

Top player: Ken Griffey, Jr. is the tops. Thomas was actually a better hitter, but had no defensive value while Griffey certainly did.
#1 Ken Griffey, #2 Frank Thomas, #3 Tino Martinez, #4 Ivan Rodriguez, #5 Edgar Martinez, #6 Paul O'Neill.

Top pitcher: Roger Clemens is the clear winner.
#1 Roger Clemens, #2 Randy Johnson, #3 Andy Pettitte, #4 Justin Thompson, #5 Mike Mussina.

Top rookie: Nomar Garciaparra was head and shoulders above the rest.

Top manager: Dave Johnson, who managed Baltimore to the most wins in the league.