1997 Atlanta Braves season
| 1997 Atlanta Braves | |
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| 1997 National League East Champs | |
| Major League affiliations | |
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| Location | |
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| Results | |
| Record | 101–61 (.623) |
| Divisional place | 1st |
| Other information | |
| Owner(s) | Time Warner |
| General manager(s) | John Schuerholz |
| Manager(s) | Bobby Cox |
| Local television |
WTBS TBS Superstation (Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson) SportSouth (Tim Brando, Ernie Johnson, Bob Rathbun) |
| Local radio |
WSB (AM) (Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Don Sutton, Joe Simpson) |
| < Previous season Next season > | |
The 1997 Atlanta Braves season marked the franchise's 32nd season in Atlanta. The Braves won their sixth 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 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 Olympic Games.
Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
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 (according to a poll in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) 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. (the Atlanta Braves) Ted Turner, then owner of the Braves, agreed to pay a large sum of the cost to build Centennial Olympic Stadium (approximately $170 million of the $209 million bill), 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 (ACOG) 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 (as the 71,000 seat Georgia Dome was completed four years earlier by the state of Georgia) and the Braves had already been exploring opportunities for a new stadium.
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