» July 31, 1997: Baseball's premier power hitter, Mark McGwire, leaves the A's for the St. Louis Cardinals, who send three pitchers to Oakland. McGwire's five-year $28 million contract runs out at the end of this year and Oakland fears they will not be able to sign him. The A's receive minor leaguers Eric Ludwick and Blake Stein, along with T.J. Mathews (4–4).

» December 15, 1997: The Marlins trade ace Kevin Brown to the Padres for 1B Derrek Lee and pitchers Rafael Medina and Steve Hoff. In the next two days the Fish send P Dennis Cook to the Mets for OF Fletcher Bates and P Scott Comer, and trade IF Kurt Abbott to the Athletics in exchange for P Eric Ludwick.

» May 2, 1998: In an 8–7 loss to the Padres, Marlin's P Eric Ludwick tries to block a ball off the bat of Wally Joyner and fractures his wrist of his throwing arm. Ludwick will miss three months. Joyner has three hits in the game.