June 12, 1997: Giants beat Rangers in MLB’s first regular-season interleague game

“Interleague competition would give the game a big lift and, what’s more important, it would give the fan, the average citizen, a lift, too.” – Walter O’Malley, president, Brooklyn Dodgers, in 1954.1

“Interleague play would be the fastest possible way to ruin baseball.” – George Selkirk, general manager, Washington Senators, in 1964.2

Regular-season play between American and National League teams, known as interleague play,3 had been proposed as early as 1933.4

In 1996, partly to renew fan interest after the 1994 players strike, the major leagues approved interleague play to begin the following season, in an arrangement characterized as a “two-year experiment.”5 The format prescribed 15 to 16 interleague games for each team against teams from the same division in the other league. NL West Division teams like the San Francisco Giants would play AL West Division teams like the Texas Rangers.6 Until 1997, the only time AL teams had played against NL teams in games that counted was during the World Series.7 

A 1997 CBS poll of baseball fans showed that a significant majority – 63 percent – favored interleague play.8

After 96 years of league separation, the first interleague game was played on June 12, 1997, with the Giants visiting the Rangers. There were three other interleague contests on this historic day, but they were on the West Coast and started later than the Giants-Rangers game.9

The teams’ lineup cards were to be sent to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Giants manager Dusty Baker said, “I told the guys they’re all going to the Hall of Fame tonight.”10

A sellout crowd of 46,507 arrived earlier than usual at The Ballpark in Arlington.11 Fourteen-year-old LeAnn Rimes sang the National Anthem,12 followed by fireworks. Legacy superstars from both franchises – Nolan Ryan and Willie Mays – threw ceremonial first pitches. Ryan tossed to NL President Leonard Coleman, while Mays threw to AL President Gene Budig.13

The teams sported jerseys with interleague logo patches on their sleeves.14 Entering this game, Texas had a 32-29 record and was in third place in the AL West Division, trailing the division-leading Seattle Mariners by one game and the Anaheim Angels by a half-game. NL West-leading San Francisco was 35-28, a half-game ahead of the Colorado Rockies.

The pitching matchup had the Rangers’ 6-foot-3, 250-pound lefty Darren Oliver facing righty Mark Gardner for the Giants. Oliver began this game with a 4.68 ERA and Gardner’s ERA was 3.28.15 Oliver and Gardner had signed the pitching rubber, which was also bound for the Hall of Fame.16

Giants center fielder Darryl Hamilton stepped into the batter’s box. Home-plate umpire Jim McKean told him and Texas catcher Ivan Rodríguez that the first-pitch ball was to be collected and sent to the Hall in Cooperstown as well. Later, Hamilton said, “I wasn’t sure what do. Did that mean I wasn’t supposed to swing?”17

Oliver threw the first-ever interleague pitch, a fastball low and inside. Hamilton took it for a ball. Hundreds of camera flashbulbs went off around the ballpark.18

With a 1-and-1 count, Hamilton ripped a grounder into right field for a single, the first interleague hit. On the next pitch, Jose Vizcaino grounded into a double play. Jeff Kent popped out to Rangers shortstop Bill Ripken to end the top of the frame.

In the bottom of the first, Gardner faced five batters and gave up two-out singles to Rusty Greer and Juan Gonzalez, but he got out of the inning when the Rangers’ Will Clark – a five-time All-Star during his eight seasons as a Giant – grounded out on a 2-and-2 count.

The Rangers went ahead in the bottom of the second. Mark McLemore reached on an error by second baseman Kent. Damon Buford hit a grounder to short; McLemore was forced out at second. Ripken came to the plate; on the second pitch, a curveball, Buford stole second base. With a 2-and-1 count, Ripken hit a hard grounder up the middle, scoring Buford. Texas 1, San Francisco 0.

Stan Javier led off for the Giants in the third. On a full count, he crushed a fastball to right for the first interleague home run.19 Rangers 1, Giants 1.

Javier hadn’t hit a homer in his last 239 at-bats; his last round-tripper had been a full year ago, on June 11, 1996.20 “I was thinking about who would hit the first [interleague] home run,” he said. “But I wasn’t thinking about it being me.”21

The starting pitchers kept it tied until the bottom of the sixth. Clark led off with a single, and McLemore hit a tailing fastball for a one-out triple to deep left-center, scoring Clark. Ripken knocked in McLemore with a two-out line-drive single to left. Rangers 3, Giants 1.

San Francisco answered in the top of the seventh. Against Oliver, Vizcaino and Kent singled and Barry Bonds was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Mark Lewis’s single scored Vizcaino. With AL rules applying in an AL ballpark, the first regular-season designated hitter in NL history, Glenallen Hill, hit a sacrifice fly to deep left-center, bringing in Kent with the tying run and advancing Bonds to third.

Javier hit a fly deep down the right-field line for a double, scoring Bonds. With one out and two on, the Giants continued to threaten, but Oliver got out of the inning by intentionally walking J.T. Snow and retiring the next two batters. Giants 4, Rangers 3.

Oliver recorded the first two outs in the eighth. Texas reliever Xavier “The X-Man” Hernandez got the final out in the eighth and pitched a scoreless ninth inning. Similarly, Gardner went eight innings for the Giants, with closer Rod Beck getting a one-two-three bottom of the ninth on just four pitches. That sealed the Giants’ one-run victory.

The final out was fielded by the player with the first at-bat and first hit: Giants center fielder Hamilton.22 He gloved a deep fly hit by Warren Newson and threw the ball to fans in the outfield bleachers.

Later, his teammates disparaged him for throwing away the historic ball. Hamilton replied sheepishly, “[At least] I threw it where the San Francisco fans were sitting.”23

The Giants had four runs, nine hits, one error, and five left on base. The Rangers had three runs on eight hits, no errors, and seven LOB. The winning pitcher, Gardner, threw 140 pitches and picked up his seventh win, Oliver (82 pitches) took his eighth loss. Beck’s save was his 20th of the season.

Offensive standouts included the Giants’ Javier (3-for-4, 2 RBIs) and the Rangers’ Ripken (2-for-3, 2 RBIs). Interleague rules were a factor: use of the designated hitter gave both Javier and Hill roles in San Francisco’s lineup, and they combined to drive in three of the Giants’ four runs.24

Texas finished the season with a 78-85 record, finishing third in the AL West Division. San Francisco won the NL West (90-72). In the postseason, the Giants were swept by the Florida Marlins in the National League Division Series. The Marlins became the first wild-card team to win a World Series when they defeated the Cleveland Indians in seven games.

With the first interleague game in the books, a new era was officially underway. In subsequent years, important milestones occurred during interleague games including: David Cone’s perfect game in 1999; Roger Clemens getting his 300th win and 4,000th strikeout on June 13, 2003; in 2007, Justin Verlander’s first no-hitter on the 10th anniversary of interleague play; and Max Scherzer tying the single-game strikeout record with 20 punchouts on May 11, 2016. Other interleague games provided special moments, for example: On September 17, 2019, Giants rookie Mike Yastrzemski homered at Fenway Park in front of his grandfather, Boston Red Sox legend and Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski.25

What started as an experiment with a limited number of interleague games in 1997 grew to all 30 teams playing one another every season. Starting in 2023, each team began playing 46 games against interleague opponents, with interleague games played throughout the season, including on Opening Day and as final games of the regular season.

Revisions to the game, such as the adoption of the designated hitter, wild-card playoff berths, and interleague play may be here to stay, but that won’t keep baseball people from their time-honored tradition of debating the pros and cons of these changes.

In 1997, while watching an interleague game between the Red Sox and Mets, author Roger Angell said, “[Interleague play is] a gimmick, but I’m not upset. The fans seem to like it. I was disturbed when they added a wild card to the playoffs, but as it turned out, I like that idea. Maybe I’ll like this.”26

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Carl Riechers and copy-edited by Len Levin. The author thanks John Fredland and Kurt Blumenau for their assistance.

Sources and Photo Credits

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and SABR.org for general player, team, and season information.

Stan Javier, Trading Card Database.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TEX/TEX199706120.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1997/B06120TEX1997.htm

Notes

1 David Falkner, “Out of Bounds,” The Sporting News, June 9, 1997: 32-34.

2 Falkner, “Out of Bounds.”

3 “Interleague Play – Definition,” ultimatelexicon.com, accessed August 4, 2025, https://ultimatelexicon.com/definitions/i/interleague/. Although the American and National leagues had played apart from one another, in the Negro Leagues interleague games were common, but those games did not count in the league standings.

4 “Interleague Play,” Baseball-Reference.com – Bullpen, accessed July 18, 2025, https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Interleague_play.

5 Mike Baldwin, “Rangers Face Giants in Tradition-Busting ‘Experiment,’” The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), oklahoman.com, June 12, 1997, https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/1997/06/12/rangers-face-giants-in-tradition-busting-experiment/62311500007/.

6 This original interleague play structure lasted from 1997 through 2001. Beginning in 2002, interleague matchups were scheduled across divisions (e.g., San Francisco could play AL opponents in the East or Central Divisions such as the New York Yankees or Chicago White Sox). In 2023 interleague play was further expanded with all 30 major-league teams playing each other throughout the regular season. Each team began playing 46 interleague games per season. This change made the schedule more balanced than the previous iterations of interleague play (and the NL’s adoption of the designated hitter rule in 2022 leveled the playing field by having the same DH rule for both leagues).

7 AL teams had played NL teams in in exhibition games, including those during spring training. There was also a history of All-Star Game interactions, with AL stars playing against NL stars. 

8 Tom Weir, “Interleague Play: Fair or Foul? Traditionalists Scoff at ‘Slap-Dash’ Change,” USA Today, June 11, 1997: 1A. Some fans were looking forward to seeing regular-season games between “natural rivals” such as Yankees-Mets in New York (the “Subway Series”), White Sox-Cubs in Chicago (the “Crosstown Classic”), Angels-Dodgers in Southern California (the “Freeway Series”), Blue Jays-Expos (the “All-Canadian Series”), and Indians-Reds (the “Ohio Cup”).

9 The other interleague games on the June 12 docket were: San Diego Padres at Anaheim Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers at Oakland Athletics, and Colorado Rockies at Seattle Mariners. There were two AL matchups as well: Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox, and Milwaukee Brewers at Cleveland Indians. (The Brewers were an AL team in 1997; they moved to the NL for the 1998 season.)

10 Tim Cowlishaw, “Giants Make Most of Added DH,” Dallas Morning News, June 13, 1997: 6B.

11 Dave Caldwell, “Interleague Debut Is Banner Night at Ballpark – Rangers Drop Historic Game to Giants, 4-3,” Dallas Morning News, June 13, 1997: 1A. Many fans came early to buy interleague souvenir merchandise (commemorative programs, scorecards, balls, hats, and clothing). The Rangers reported sales were 42 percent higher than for a typical game. Kelly D. Patterson, “Game Items Rounded Up for Museum – Interleague Souvenirs Sell Out,” Dallas Morning News, June 14, 1997: 1A.

12 Rimes’ single “How Do I Live” debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the week ending June 21, 1997, days after this game. It peaked at number 2 for five weeks in December 1997 and January 1998. As of 2025, it was the biggest pop hit of her recording career.

13 Caldwell, “Interleague Debut Is Banner Night at Ballpark – Rangers Drop Historic Game to Giants, 4-3.”

14 The interleague logo featured two eagles clutching a baseball with their talons, together with a banner reading: “American – National.”

15 Oliver was in his fifth big-league season. He finished the 1997 season with a 13-12 record and a 4.20 ERA. He pitched in the majors for 20 years, including 10 seasons with the Rangers. He completed his career with a 21.2 WAR, an 118-98 record, and an ERA of 4.51. He appeared in 30 postseason games, including the 2010 and 2011 World Series. Gardner was in his ninth season as a major leaguer. He finished 1997 with a record of 12-9 and a 4.29 ERA. He played for 13 years in the big leagues; his last six were with the Giants. His career numbers include a WAR of 6.2, a 99-93 record, and an ERA of 4.56. He appeared in one postseason game, in the 2000 National League Division Series, pitching 4 1/3 innings for the Giants while taking the loss against the New York Mets in Game Four.

16 Patterson, “Game Items Rounded Up for Museum – Interleague Souvenirs Sell Out.”

17 Gerry Callahan, “Nice to Meet You, Even Purists Had to Concede That Interleague Play Was a Big Hit in Its Inaugural Weekend,” vault.si.com, June 23, 1997, https://vault.si.com/vault/1997/06/23/nice-to-meet-you-even-purists-had-to-concede-that-interleague-play-was-a-big-hit-in-its-inaugural-weekend.

18 Caldwell, “Interleague Debut Is Banner Night at Ballpark – Rangers Drop Historic Game to Giants, 4-3.”

19 Other interleague firsts that occurred during this game (and were not acknowledged in the body of the article):

• First double: Rusty Greer (Texas)
• First triple: Mark McLemore (Texas)
• First RBI: Bill Ripken (Texas)
• First run: Damon Buford (Texas)
• First stolen base: Buford (Texas)
• First win: Mark Gardner (SF)
• First loss: Darren Oliver (Texas)
• First save: Rod Beck (SF)
• First strikeout: thrown by Gardner (SF) against Iván Rodríguez (Texas)
• First error: Jeff Kent (SF)
• First double play: A 6-4-3 play by Ripken, McLemore, and Will Clark (Texas)

20 Nancy Gay, “Giants Win 1st Foray into AL – Rangers Lose Before 46,507,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 1997: E1. Javier suffered a hamstring injury in mid-July 1996; he didn’t return until April 3, 1997.

21 Cowlishaw, “Giants Make Most of Added DH.”

22 This was Darryl Hamilton’s 195th consecutive errorless game. Hamilton led the majors in fielding percentage for outfielders in 1992, 1996, 1998, and 1999.

23 Gay, “Giants Win 1st Foray into AL – Rangers Lose Before 46,507.”

24 Nick Peters, “Bay Area Is 2-0 in New Era – Giants Make Quick Work of Rangers,” Sacramento Bee, June 13, 1997: C1.

25 Manny Randhawa, “25 Years On, the Best Interleague Moments,” mlb.com, June 11, 2022, https://www.mlb.com/news/best-interleague-moments-in-mlb-history.

26 Callahan, “Nice to Meet You, Even Purists Had to Concede That Interleague Play Was a Big Hit in Its Inaugural Weekend.”