The 1997 Atlanta Braves season marked the franchise's 32nd season in Atlanta and 127th overall. The Braves won their third consecutive division title, taking the National League East title by 9 games over the second place Florida Marlins. However, the Marlins would later defeat the Braves in the 1997 National League Championship Series. 1997 was the first year that the Braves played their home games in Turner Field, which originally served as a venue for the 1996 Summer Olympics.
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
Ed Giovanola
14
8
2
.250
0
0
Greg Myers
9
9
1
.111
0
1
Pitching
Starting pitchers
Other pitchers
Relief pitchers
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.
