TSN's 1997 baseball awards

Sporting News, The, Oct 27, 1997

Player of the Year Ken Griffey Jr., Marines

Forget the numbers--56 home runs, 147 RBIs, a .304 batting average. At least Ken Griffey Jr. would like you to forget them. All he really wanted in 1997 was a championship.

"All I've wanted to do from Day One is to be running from the outfield to the dugout and celebrating a pennant with these guys," Griffey says. "Individual accomplishments don't mean anything."

But apparently they do--especially to his peers. That's why they overwhelmingly chose Junior as THE SPORTING NEWS Player of the Year for 1997. Griffey received 183 votes, finishing far ahead of Rockies outfielder Larry Walker, who got 107, and Cardinals first baseman Mark McGwire, who got 21. Another Mariner, Alex Rodriquez, won the award last year.

"He had a tremendous season," manager Lou Piniella says of Griffey. "Fifty-six home runs, the 147 RBIs, the way he played the outfield. Just a tremendous season. That's a ton of home runs to hit, but he plays to win. I think when the season is over, he'll reflect on it and put it in the proper perspective."

There is no question Griffey enjoys the spotlight, but he is sensitive to the perception he is in it for himself. He spent the '97 season in a chase with McGwire for the major league home run crown, each delivering late-September bursts that lifted them close to the achievements of Roger Maris and Babe Ruth.

McGwire, obtained by St. Louis from the A's on July 31, prevailed with 53. But Griffey has every right to congratulate himself. Only five players have hit more than 56 homers in a season--and he has the respect of his peers.

N.L. Manager of the Year Dusty Baker, Giants

The Giants, a long shot for postseason play in virtually every preseason forecast, had just finished a most remarkable season. Manager Dusty Baker's leadership had played a huge role in lifting the Giants from a dismal 68-94 mark and fourth-place finish in 1996 to unexpected heights in 1997: a 90-72 regular season, an N.L. West title and the team's first playoff appearance since 1989 (and Baker's first as a manager).

And yet when Baker, 48, found out that he had been chosen as The Sporting News' National League Manager of the Year in a poll of N.L. managers, he took little solace. He still was trying to cope with the Giants' three-game sweep at the hands of the Marlins in the first round of the playoffs.

"I'm sure I'll be happy about it when the remorse of the season is over," says Baker, who has a 383-362 record (.514) in five seasons with the Giants. "I'm thankful and grateful this is how the other managers feel, but it's kind of early to be thinking about personal stuff."

That team-first attitude manifested itself in the form of clubhouse chemistry that was a key part of the push to a 51-36 record at the All-Star break and on to a division title when other teams appeared on paper to be more talented or placed more individuals among the league's statistical leaders.

Baker received eight votes, outdistancing the Pirates' Gene Lamont, who received 3 1/2. THe graves' Bobby Cox (1) the Mets' Bobby Valentine (1) and the Marlin's Jim Leyland (1/2) also received votes.

A.L. Manager of the Year Davey Johnson, Orioles

He's in fast company now, joining a list that includes Hall of Famers Miller Huggins, John McGraw and Walter Alston and is rounded out by Sparky Anderson and Lou Piniella.

The ascent has been duly rewarded: In a vote of his fellow managers, the Orioles' Davey Johnson has been named The Sporting News American League Manager of the Year.

"It's really a tremendous honor," Johnson says. "Knowing it comes from my peers makes it that much more special."

Johnson's Orioles led the A.L. East from start to finish in 1997, thereby matching a wire-to-wire stay in first place enjoyed by only five other teams in major league history: Huggins' 1927 Yankees, McGraw's 1923 Giants, Alston's 1995 Dodgers, Anderson's 1984 Tigers and Piniella's 1990 Reds.

Johnson, 54, guided the '97 team to a 10-game improvement over 1996-from 88-74 to 98-64--and it dethroned the defending World Series champion Yankees as A.L. East titlists.

"We had a great year," Johnson says, "but we fell short of our ultimate goal, the World Series."

Johnson says the Orioles "didn't catch many breaks in the A.L. Championship Series," but the manager at last caught one in the awards balloting. The TSN honor is a first for Johnson, whose 1986 Mets won the World Series, 1988 Mets captured the N.L. East and 1995 Reds ruled the N.L. Central.

Johnson received six votes from fellow A.L. managers. His strongest competition came from Seattle's Piniella, who got three.

Executive of the Year Cam Bonifay, Pirates

His team failed to make the playoffs and finished four games below .500. That may have been why Pirates general manager Cam Bonifay was "flabbergasted" to learn of his selection as The Sporting News' Executive of the Year.

But it was peers--his fellow front-office executives--who recognized the job Bonifay did in building the team that pestered the Astros most of the season and came within five games of first place despite going 79-83.