1997 in baseball

Events

January-March

• January 5 - Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield escapes serious injury when he is hit by a car while out jogging. He is released from the hospital after being treated for bruises.
• January 6 - Knuckleballer Phil Niekro is elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Niekro receives 80.34% of the vote. Pitcher Don Sutton falls nine votes short of election.
• February 20 - The Phillies sign free agent OF Danny Tartabull. Tartabull will break his foot on Opening Day and sit out for the year before retiring.
• March 5 - Nellie Fox, Tommy Lasorda and Negro Leaguer Willie Wells are elected to the Hall of Fame by the veterans committee.

April-May

• April 29 - Chili Davis' 300th home run leading off the 10th inning snaps a 5?5 tie and gives the Royals a 6?5 win over the Blue Jays.
• May 7 - The Montreal Expos score a National League-record 13 runs in the 6th inning of their game against the San Francisco Giants on the way to a 19-3 win. The Expos send 17 batters to the plate. Mike Lansing homers twice in the inning to drive in five runs, becoming the third Expos player to perform the feat, and the first NL second baseman to do so since Bobby Lowe in 1894.
• May 8 - At home, the Baltimore Orioles stop Randy Johnson's 16-game win streak with a decisive 13?3 pasting of the Seattle Mariners. Baltimore is led by catcher Chris Hoiles, who collects six RBI on two homers and a double. Johnson strikes out10 in six innings, but gives up five runs on six hits and two walks as he attempted to become the first American League pitcher since Dave McNally (1968-69) to win 17 straight.
• May 13 - Eddie Murray gets two hits in Anaheim's 8-7 win over the White Sox. The game is the 3,000th of Murray's career, making him only the sixth player in history to reach that mark. Pete Rose, Carl Yastrzemski, Hank Aaron, Ty Cobb and Stan Musial are the others.
• May 21 - Roger Clemens fires Toronto past the Yankees, 4?1, for his 8th win of the year against no losses. The Rocket wins his 200th game, the 94th pitcher to reach the 200 victories mark.
• May 25 - Minnesota Twins retire Kirby Puckett's uniform number 34 in a 90-minute pregame ceremony.
• May 26:
• In the Chicago Cubs' 2?1 win in Pittsburgh, Cubs' Sammy Sosa and Pittsburgh's Tony Womack both hit s in the sixth inning. It is the first time two inside-the-park homers are hit in the same National League game since Lou Brock and Héctor Cruz of St. Louis did it against San Diego on June 18, 1976. Greg Gagne of the Twins had two for Minnesota on October 4, 1986.
• [[In Toronto, Roger Clemens allows one run and four hits in seven innings and strikes out seven to beat the Texas Rangers (baseball)|Rangers, 8?1. The Rocket is now 9?0, his best start since beginning 1986 at 14-0.
• Andrés Galarraga hits a 469-foot two-run homer and Vinny Castilla added a solo shot as the Colorado Rockies overcome a six-run deficit to beat the Cardinals, 9?7. Galarraga has four RBI and his moon shot, off Mark Petkovsek, is the third-longest homer in the three-season history of Coors Field.
• May 27 - Barry Larkin's streak of consecutively reaching base at 13 is stopped by Curt Schilling, who goes all the way to beat Cincinnati, 2?1. Larkin singles in the first inning, but flies out in the 3rd to end his streak one shy of Pedro Guerrero's NL record set in 1985.
• May 30 - Orioles' Mike Mussina retires the first 25 Indian batters before Sandy Alomar, Jr. ruins his no-hit bid with a one-out single in the 9th. Mussina then strikes out the final two batters for a 3?0 victory.
• May 31:
• Cal Ripken snaps a 7th-inning tie with a record-breaking home run as the Baltimore Orioles rally from a 4-run deficit to beat the Cleveland Indians, 8?5. Ripken's homer gives him 4,274 total bases with Baltimore, breaking the franchise mark for total bases in a career. Baltimore also place Eric Davis on the disabled list. Davis is suffering from colon cancer and will be operated on in early June.
• In Miami, Andres Galarraga golfs a 529-foot grand slam, the longest home run ever at Pro Player Stadium. His homer gives the Colorado Rockies a 7-0 lead over the Marlins, and they eventually win, 8?4. Galarraga has three home runs in the past three games against Florida that traveled 1,435 feet, an average of 478 feet. He hit a 455-foot homer two days before and a 451-foot homer yesterday. The longest previous homer at the stadium was 482 feet by Pete Incaviglia of the Phillies off Al Leiter on May 1, 1996.
• Unbeaten Roger Clemens is the first 10-game winner in the majors, as the Toronto Blue Jays romp, 13-3, over the Oakland Athletics.
• PameIla Borders of the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League faces three Sioux Falls Canaries batters, and surrenders three earned runs, in her professional baseball debut. The Canaries, who led 4-0 when she entered the game, to on to defeat St. Paul, 11-1.

June-July

• July 8 - The American League defeats the National by a score of 3-1 in the annual All-Star Game, played in Cleveland Jacobs Field. Indians' catcher Sandy Alomar hits a 2-run home run and is named the game's Most Valuable Player. Alomar is the first hometown player to homer since Braves' Hank Aaron did it in Atlanta Fulton County Stadium in 1972.

August-September

• September 4 - Rookie catcher Bobby Estalella hit three home runs and four RBI as he led the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-4 win over Montreal.
• September 10 - Mark McGwire joined Babe Ruth as the only players in major league history with 50 home runs in consecutive seasons by hitting a 446-foot shot off Shawn Estes in the third inning of St. Louis' game at San Francisco. McGwire, who hit a major league-leading 52 homers for Oakland last season, became the first player with back-to-back 50-homer seasons since Ruth did it in 1927 and 1928.
• September 28 - Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres tied Honus Wagner's record by winning his eighth National League batting title. Gwynn finished at .372, becoming the first player to win four consecutive NL batting titles since Rogers Hornsby won six straight between 1920 and 1925.

October-December