June 12, 1997: Interleague Play Comes to Major League Baseball

June 12, 1997: The 1st regular season Interleague games are played in Major League Baseball.

Interleague games had been played before. Of course, the World Series. In Spring Training, since some teams trained in Florida and others in Arizona, forcing the crossover "Grapefruit League" and "Cactus League." In-season exhibition games, such as the Mayor's Trophy Game between the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. Chicago also had City Series games between the Cubs and the White Sox, sometimes before the regular season, sometimes after it. In the era when there were more cities with 2 teams, there would frequently be postseason series for charity.

But in the regular season? No, this was one time when "segregation" in baseball was considered good. There was a mystique about the World Series, in that the teams facing each other hadn't faced each other during the regular season.

But most cities and metropolitan areas only had 1 team, in 1 League. The exceptions were New York, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area (the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland Athletics), and Los Angeles (the Los Angeles Dodgers and the team known from 1965 to 1996 as the California Angels).

If you were a fan of a team in 1 League, and wanted to see a team, or a star player, in the other, and you didn't live in 1 of those 4 areas, you had to go a long way, usually over 100 miles, to see it. Otherwise, you had to wait for television: NBC's Saturday Game of the Week, ABC's Monday Night Baseball, or, maybe, if your TV antenna was good enough, you could pull in another city's station. Failing that, you had to wait for the postseason.

The growth of ESPN and its baseball coverage didn't satisfy the appetite of fans looking to see players and teams from the other League: It actually increased it. Those of us who were opposed to Interleague Play joked, "What's next, cats and dogs becoming friends?"

The jokes went the other way, too: During the pregame show for the 1993 All-Star Game, Barry Bonds, of the National League's Giants, walked into Oriole Park of Camden Yards, home of the American League's Baltimore Orioles, and, since it wasn't an NL park, and he wasn't familiar with it due to having played there several times before, he couldn't find the locker room. He looked into the camera, and said, "This is why we need Interleague Play!" 

(As you can see, Bonds was put on the cover of the game program, along with then-current Rangers star Juan González, and legends Nolan Ryan of Texas and Willie Mays of San Francisco.)

And so, in 1995, as a way of bringing fans back after the Strike of '94, MLB officials, including Acting Commissioner Bud Selig, agreed on Interleague Play for the 1997 season. At first, it would only be series between "Divisional" opponents: Teams in the AL East would play teams in the NL East, Central vs. Central, West vs. West. This would lead to intracity, intra-metro-area, and intra-State matchups that had never happened in the regular season.

There were still separate umpiring crews, so they would be mixed for these games. As for the designated hitter, MLB would apply the same rule from the World Series and the All-Star Game: Which ever League had the home team would decide. So, home game in an AL park, DH, yes; home game in an NL park, DH, no.

The 1st such game was on June 12, 1997, a Thursday. It was at The Ballpark in Arlington (which has since undergone several name changes, and is now named Choctaw Stadium), in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas, where the Texas Rangers hosted the Giants.

At 7:11 PM, Central Daylight Time (8:11 Eastern), Darren Oliver threw a pitch, which home plate umpire Jim McKean called ball 1, to Darryl Hamilton. McKean handed that ball to the Rangers' equipment manager, who made sure it went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. After 126 1/2 seasons without regular-season Interleague Play, it had begun. With the next ball, Hamilton singled, for the 1st Interleague hit, but did not score.

Billy Ripken, Cal's brother, had the 1st Interleague RBI, with a single up the middle off Mark Gardner, that scored Damon Buford, in the bottom of the 2nd. Stan Javier of the Giants led off the 3rd with the 1st Interleague homer. The Giants went on to win the game, 4-3. Winning pitcher: Gardner. Save: Rod Beck. Losing pitcher: Oliver.

(Ripken, Buford and Javier had all been sons of major league figures: Ripken of Oriole coach Cal Ripken Sr., Buford of former Oriole outfielder Don Buford, and Javier of former St. Louis Cardinals star Julián Javier.)

There were 3 other Interleague games that night, all on the Pacific Coast. The newly-renamed Anaheim Angels beat the San Diego Padres, 8-4 at Edison International Field in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California. (In 2004, the team would be renamed the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the Stadium, formerly Anaheim Stadium, was renamed Angel Stadium of Anaheim.) The Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum). And the Seattle Mariners beat the Colorado Rockies, 12-11 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

That night, there were 2 games played that night within the American League: The Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles, 9-5 at Fenway Park in Boston; and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-2 at Jacobs Field (which was renamed Progressive Field in 2007) in Cleveland.

There were no scores in other sports on this historic day: Football was in the off-season; hockey had ended 5 days earlier, when the Detroit Red Wings completed a 4-game sweep of the Philadelphia Flyers to win their 1st Stanley Cup in 42 years; and it was a travel day in the NBA Finals, as, the next night, the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz in Game 6 to take the title.

This introduction of Interleague Play would set up the first regional rivalries:

* June 16, 1997, the 1st regular-season game between the New York teams: The New York Mets beat the New York Yankees, 6-0 at Yankee Stadium. I was there, and, as a Yankee Fan, it was a miserable experience. Among the 56,188 fans, the fandom was about evenly split, and the Met fans were having way too much fun.

Bernard Gilkey, John Olerud, Butch Huskey and Matt Franco each collected 2 hits. Joe Girardi got 3 hits for the Yankees, but to the rest of the team, Dave Mlicki allowed only 6, and pitched a shutout. Andy Pettitte was the losing pitcher.

The Yankees did win the next 2 games to take the series, and also went on to win the only World Series between them (so far), in 2000.

* Also on June 16, 1997, the 1st regular-season game between the Chicago teams: The Chicago Cubs beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-3 at the new Comiskey Park (which was renamed U.S. Cellular Field in 2002, Guaranteed Rate Field in 2016, and just Rate Field in 2025). The teams had met in the 1906 World Series, which the White Sox won.

* Also on June 16, 1997, the 1st regular-season game between the Ohio teams: The Cincinnati Reds beat the Cleveland Indians, 4-1 at Jacobs Field. (Starting in 2022, the Indians became the Cleveland Guardians.) There has never been a World Series between them, the closest call coming in 1940, when the Reds won, beating the Detroit Tigers, who finished a game ahead of the Indians.

* On June 17, 1997, the 1st regular-season game between the Los Angeles-area teams: The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Anaheim Angels, 4-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. (In 2004, the Angels became the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In 2016, they dropped the "of Anaheim.") Todd Zeile hit a home run off Troy Percival to win the game in the bottom of the 9th.

There has never been a World Series between them, the closest call coming in 2009, when both teams made their respective League's Championship Series.

* On June 30, 1997, the 1st regular-season game between the Canadian teams: The Montreal Expos beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at the SkyDome in Toronto (renamed the Rogers Centre in 2005). The next day, July 1, Canada Day, saw them play each other again, wearing red as their primary color, matching the Canadian flag, as opposed to the blue that both teams usually wore. The Expos won that game, 2-1, as well.

With the Expos having moved after the 2004 season, to become the Washington Nationals, there can still be a World Series between the franchises, but there was never an All-Canadian World Series, nor was there ever a season when both teams made the Playoffs.

* On July 2, 1997, the 1st regular-season game between the San Francisco Bay Area teams: The Oakland Athletics beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-1 at the Oakland Coliseum. They played each other in the 1989 World Series, and the A's won. They also played each other when they were still on the East Coast: The New York Giants won in 1905, while the Philadelphia Athletics won in 1911 and 1913. (UPDATE: The Athletics left Oakland after the 2024 season, but were still, for the moment, in Northern California, in Sacramento, through the 2027 season, planning to move to Las Vegas in 2028.)

* On August 29, 1997, the 1st regular-season game between the Missouri teams: The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Kansas City Royals, 9-7 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. They had already played each other in the 1985 World Series, which the Royals won under controversial circumstances.

* Also on August 29, 1997, the 1st return of the Braves to Boston since 1952: The Atlanta Braves beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-1 at Fenway Park. The teams have never played each other in the World Series, regardless of city. The closest call for an all-Boston World Series was in 1948, when the Braves won the Pennant, and the Red Sox lost a Playoff for the Pennant to the Cleveland Indians.

* On June 1, 1998, the 1st return of the Braves to Milwaukee since 1965: The Atlanta Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. This was also the year the Brewers moved to the National League, so there can never be a World Series between them, although both teams made the Playoffs in 1982.

* On June 22, 1998, the 1st regular-season game between the Florida teams: The Florida Marlins beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 3-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. Todd Zeile is involved again, hitting a sacrifice fly that scores the winning run in the top of the 12th inning. There has never been a World Series between them, although both teams made the Playoffs in 2020.

* On June 8, 2001, the 1st regular-season game between the Texas teams: The Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers, 5-4 at The Ballpark in Arlington. Moisés Alou hit a home run to win the game in the top of the 11th inning.

The Astros moved to the American League in 2013, so there can never be a World Series between them. The closest call came in 1998 and 1999, when both teams made the Playoffs.

* On June 6, 2003, the 1st return of the Athletics to Philadelphia since 1954: The Oakland Athletics beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-4 at Veterans Stadium. I was at this game as well, and a few surviving Philadelphia Athletics, including Bobby Shantz and Gun Zernial, appeared on the field in a pregame ceremony.

The teams have never played each other in the World Series, regardless of city. There was never even a close call for an all-Philadelphia World Series, as they were never both good at the same time.

* Finally, on June 28, 2011, the schedule worked out to give fans the 1st return of the team that had been the Browns to St. Louis since 1953: The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. They had played each other in an all-St. Louis World Series in 1944, and though the Browns took 2 of the 1st 3, the Cards won the next 3 to take the title. They have never faced each other as the Cardinals and the Orioles.