The 1997 Philadelphia Phillies season was the 115th season in the history of the franchise. Offseason November 21, 1996: Rex Hudler was signed as a free agent by the Phillies. November 27, 1996: Ricardo Jordan and Toby Borland were traded by the Phillies to the New York Mets for Rico Brogna. December 12, 1996: Mark Portugal was signed as a free agent by the Phillies. February 25, 1997: Danny Tartabull was signed as a free agent by the Phillies. Regular season On June 28, 1997, the Phillies played the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field in Atlanta. In honor of the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking professional baseball's color line, the Braves hosted a Turn Back the Clock game. The Braves wore 1938 Atlanta Black Crackers home uniforms and the Phillies wore 1938 Philadelphia Stars road uniforms. In 1938, the Black Crackers had played in the Negro American League and the Stars in the Negro National League. J. D. Drew Phillies' first round draft pick J. D. Drew and his agent Scott Boras elected not to sign with the Phillies, sticking to their guarantee that they would not sign for less than $10 million. The Phillies had no plan to pay an unproven player this amount of money, and despite Boras' warnings, drafted Drew nonetheless. Consequently, Drew ended up playing for the St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League. Season standings The Phillies played extremely poorly in the first 100 games of the season, going 30–70, including a 4–22 stretch in the month of June. The team made a miraculous comeback in the last 62 games, going 38–24, the best of any team in the National League during that span. It was not enough, however, to get them out of last place. Record vs. opponents Notable transactions June 3, 1997: J. D. Drew was drafted by the Phillies in the 1st round (2nd pick) of the 1997 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign. July 8, 1997: Midre Cummings was selected off waivers by the Phillies from the Pittsburgh Pirates. 1997 Game Log |- style="background:#bfb" | 1 || April 1 || @ Dodgers || 3–0 || Curt Schilling (1–0) || Ramón Martínez (0–1) || Ricky Bottalico (1) || 53,079 || 1–0 |- style="background:#fbb" | 2 || April 2 || @ Dodgers || 1–5 || Hideo Nomo (1–0) || Calvin Maduro (0–1) || Darren Dreifort (1) || 37,195 ||