History of the Subway Series

June 16, 1997 - In the first ever regular season meeting between the Mets and Yankees, the Mets score three times in the first inning, never looking back as Dave Mlicki pitched a complete game shutout in a 6-0 victory. Technically, this as not the inception of the Subway Series....



Since the inception of the modern-day World Series in 1903, the Fall Classic has been played within the borders of New York City a total of 14 times. These intraurban competitions to determine baseball’s best have become known as “Subway Series.”

Technically, the first two all-NYC series, in 1921 and 1922, were not Subway Series because the Yankees and Giants shared the same ballpark — the Polo Grounds in upper Mahnattan. The Yankees moved to their own stadium in the Bronx for the 1923 classic, and from there the battle lines were drawn, with games alternating between Yankee Stadium and either the Polo Grounds or Brooklyn’s Ebbetts Field, and later Shea Stadium in Queens.

The Yankees have been by far the dominant team in the Subway Series, winning 11 times (six times over the Dodgers, four times over the Giants and once over the Mets). The Giants’ only victories came in those first two all-Polo Grounds matchups, while the Dodgers brought a championship to Flatbush only once — in 1955.

Sadly, with the departure of the Giants and Dodgers to California in 1958, there was no Subway Series for 44 years.

In 1962, the National League added a new entry in Gotham — the Mets. Still, there was no Subway Series for decades, as the fates of the Yankees and Mets were virtually opposite of each other. Whenever the Bronx Bombers would win, the Mets were languishing at or near the bottom of the pack. And when the Amazin’s (as Casey Stengel called them) made it to the top, the Yankees played uncharacteristically poorly.

That is, until 1999. For the first time ever, both the Mets and Yankees made it to post-season play in the same season. Baseball’s relatively new three-tier playoff system makes it a bit more difficult for teams to make it to the World Series, and while the Yankees advanced to the capture their 25th championship, the Mets fell in the NLCS to the pennant-winning Atlanta Braves.

Then came 2000, and both the Mets and Yankees advanced through the first two playoff rounds to reach the World Series. The teams were considered evenly matched, but the Yankees came out on top, winning their 26th championship. So at the start of the 21st Century, New York fans ride the underground rails once again as the Big Apple retains its position as the baseball capital of the world.

Yankees win the first 2005 Subway Series

May 2005
There were 3 sellouts and the domination of the pitchers was evident. Finally, the New York Yankees won the game on Sunday against their rivals of the “Big Apple” the New York Mets, to win two of the first three games of the 2005 Subway series. Pedro Martínez, who was supposed to pitch on Friday night pitched instead on Sunday after being injected with a cortisone shot in his right hip. It looked like it did him good as he was shutting out the Yankees and left after 7 innings with six strike outs and a 3-1 lead. But in the eighth inning, the house collapsed on the Mets defense, and prepared the scene for Japanese Hideki Matsui, who tied the score with a single and scored on a double by Puerto Rican, Bernie Williams. In the ninth, the Yankees scored again to put the final score at 5-3. Dae-Sung Koo, one of the heroes of Saturday’s game was the pitcher who opened the eighth inning while Puerto Rican, Roberto Hernández permitted the big at bats. Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter, did not start the game but was a pinch runner in the game. On Friday with Kevin Brown on the mound, the Yankees won 5-2, the Mets won on Saturday 7-1 beating Randy Johnson.

Met-Yankees 2005 Subway Series Prologue

NEW YORK (May 19, 2005) -- Any time the Mets and Yankees meet up, it's always a trip. That makes a ride on the Subway Series a perfect fit for the 2005 season kickoff of FOX's Game of the Week.

Announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver will be in a New York state of mind Saturday afternoon as the No. 4 and No. 7 trains cross paths at Shea Stadium, with heated rivalries, baseball's top stars and memorable moments just part of the menu.

The Yankees hold a commanding 26-16 edge in Subway Series play since the two clubs began this annual dance in 1997, but this year's Mets-Yankees matchup brings an added twist: Willie Randolph has switched dugouts to pilot the Mets after 11 years as a coach with the Yankees.
Randolph has downplayed the novelty of matching wits with his mentor, Bombers skipper Joe Torre, but no one is downplaying the importance of putting on a good show -- both for the standings and for bragging rights.

"This is obviously a big challenge for us," Randolph said. "The Yankees have an awesome team over there. We all know that. We've stepped up to a lot of challenges so far this year and this is going to be another big challenge for us. And we'll be ready to play."

Mets outfielder Cliff Floyd admitted this week that he often tunes in to see what the Yankees are doing, especially during their recent road trip, when the boys from the Bronx won 10 of 11 games on the West Coast. Don't think for a minute that the Yankees aren't keeping tabs on their cross-town rivals as well.

"They're a better team this year," Yankees outfielder Gary Sheffield said. "They've built a team to win now with some good, young guys and some new older guys. With the names over there this year, it should add some more excitement to the series."

Saturday's pitching matchup has the makings of a classic, with left-hander Randy Johnson bringing his 6-foot-10 frame to the mound against Mets right-hander Kris Benson -- a pairing of Subway Series neophytes.

It takes an awful lot to unnerve the Big Unit on a game day, and Benson likewise says he's ready for his closeup in front of a national television audience.

"The electricity, the crowd, everything will be different," Benson said. "As far as my approach on the mound, I just go straight for it. I've pitched in front of big crowds and big TV audiences before, so it's not anything new to me.

"But with the number of people here and the excitement everyone has for this weekend, we all know it's definitely going to be more than a normal game."

Yankees/ Mets share ballparks

Shea Stadium has served as the home field for the Mets' crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees. After the Yankees completed their stadium's 50th anniversary season in 1973, the team moved to Shea for the 1974 and 1975 seasons while Yankee Stadium underwent extensive renovations. Again in the 1998 season, the Yankees were forced to play at Shea due to a fallen piece of concrete at Yankee Stadium. On Wednesday April 15, the Yankees played Anaheim in a 12:05 p.m. day game and the Mets hosted the Cubs for their regularly scheduled 7:40 p.m. start, creating a very unusual doubleheader. In 1975, the New York football Giants also played at Shea, marking the first and only time two professional baseball teams, the Mets and Yankees and two professional football teams, the Jets and the Giants played at the same stadium in the same year.

On July 8, 2000 the Mets and Yankees were involved in yet another historic doubleheader, with the first game at Shea Stadium and the second at Yankee Stadium. This event took place due to a makeup game from a rainout during the previous series at Yankee Stadium in June. It was the first time in 97 years that two teams played each other twice in one day at two different ballparks. Three months later the Fall Classic came back to Shea when the Mets faced the Yankees in the first New York/New York World Series since 1956.