For decades, the only way the New York Yankees and the Mets could play each other was in a World Series or a spring training game that meant nothing. Every argument in every bar, diner, and subway car across the five boroughs was theoretical. My team's better than your team -- prove it. You couldn't. There was no mechanism to settle it during the regular season. Then MLB introduced interleague play in 1997, and on June 16, the crosstown rivals finally met in a game that counted.
The Mets won 6-0. At Yankee Stadium. Of course they did.
Why It Mattered
Look, the 1997 Yankees were defending World Series champions. Jeter, Bernie, Rivera, O'Neill, Pettitte -- the core of a dynasty in progress. The Mets were a decent team, not a great one. Nobody expected a shutout loss in the Bronx for the very first regular-season Subway Series game. It was supposed to be a celebration. Instead, it was an embarrassment.
But the score didn't matter. Not really. (OK, it mattered for about 48 hours of insufferable trash talk from every Mets fan in my life.) What mattered was that the game happened at all. New York is a two-team baseball city with a divide that runs deeper than AL vs. NL. It runs through families, friendships, and office cubicles. Yankees fans and Mets fans had coexisted for 35 years without ever settling the argument on the field in a game that counted. June 16, 1997 changed that.
The Scene
Yankee Stadium was electric. This wasn't just a Monday night baseball game -- it was a civic event. The media presence was massive. National TV, every New York newspaper, radio stations broadcasting pregame shows from the parking lot. The buzz felt more like a playoff game than a mid-June matchup between the defending champs and a team fighting for .500.
The whole city had an opinion. Cab drivers, doormen, the guy at your bodega -- everyone was picking a side. (Most of them had already picked a side at birth, but this was the first time the argument had stakes attached.) Yankee Stadium was packed with fans wearing both logos, which is a strange and slightly hostile vibe if you've never experienced it.
The Game Itself
The Mets shut the Yankees out, 6-0. Their pitching dominated and the Yankees' bats went completely silent on the biggest stage of the regular season. For one night, the Mets owned the Bronx. It was humbling, it was annoying, and it gave Mets fans ammunition they'd use for the rest of the summer. (And the next summer. And the summer after that.)
The defending champs didn't collapse over it. The Yankees went on to win 96 games and make the playoffs as the Wild Card. A shutout loss to the Mets in June wasn't going to derail a season -- but it stung for bragging-rights purposes, and in New York, bragging rights are a currency that matters almost as much as wins.
The Bigger Picture
MLB introduced interleague play as something of an experiment in 1997, and the Subway Series was the matchup that validated the entire concept. Purists hated it -- they argued it cheapened the World Series by removing the mystique of AL vs. NL. Those purists were wrong. The energy in the building, the ratings, the buzz across the city -- this was exactly what baseball needed. Rivalries that existed only in theory became real.
The Subway Series became an annual fixture on the schedule. Three years later, the Yankees and Mets met in the 2000 World Series -- the first Subway Series Fall Classic since the Yankees and Dodgers in 1956. That series gave us Roger Clemens throwing a broken bat at Mike Piazza, which was freakin' insane and deserves its own article. (It does, somewhere.) The regular-season interleague games built the rivalry that made the 2000 World Series feel like a war.
It all started on June 16, 1997, with the Mets winning 6-0 in the Bronx. I'm still a little annoyed about it.
| Date | June 16, 1997 |
| Final Score | Mets 6, Yankees 0 |
| Location | Yankee Stadium, The Bronx |
| Significance | First-ever regular-season Subway Series game |
| Yankees' 1997 Record | 96-66 (AL Wild Card) |
First Regular-Season Subway Series Game
The Mets beat the Yankees 6-0 at Yankee Stadium in the first-ever regular-season matchup between the crosstown rivals. Mets fans celebrate. Yankees fans seethe. New York buzzes.
Interleague Play Launches
MLB introduces regular-season interleague games for the first time. The Yankees-Mets Subway Series is the marquee attraction, validating the entire concept.
The Subway World Series
The Yankees and Mets meet in the World Series -- the first all-New York Fall Classic since 1956. The Yankees win in five games. The roots of this rivalry trace directly back to June 16, 1997.
Interleague Play Goes Permanent
With the Astros moving to the American League, interleague games become a daily fixture on the MLB schedule. The experiment that started with Yankees-Mets in '97 is now a permanent part of baseball.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was the first regular-season Yankees vs. Mets game?
The first regular-season Subway Series game was played on June 16, 1997, at Yankee Stadium. It was part of MLB's inaugural interleague play schedule. The Mets won 6-0, shutting out the defending World Series champion Yankees.
Who won the first Subway Series interleague game?
The Mets won the first-ever regular-season Subway Series game, beating the Yankees 6-0 at Yankee Stadium on June 16, 1997. The shutout gave Mets fans bragging rights in the debut of what became an annual fixture on the baseball calendar.
When did MLB start interleague play?
MLB introduced interleague play in 1997, scheduling regular-season games between American League and National League teams for the first time. The Yankees-Mets Subway Series was the flagship matchup of the inaugural interleague schedule. Interleague play became a permanent daily feature of the MLB calendar in 2013.