Did teams from the American and National league play eachother during the regular season before inter league play was introduced? Not counting pre-season and World Series. I have a friend who says before interleague play-every team played eachother. I am super confident he is wrong-Am I wrong? As much details as possible please.
2007-03-30 14:00:12 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Baseball
In some cases, there were city or regional rivalries that were indulged annually, but in games that didn't count in the standings. For example, the term "Windy City Classic" did not start with interleague play. The Blue Jays and Expos used to play for the "Pearson Cup", named for a former Prime Minister who was a big baseball fan. Again, this was a game that was for bragging rights only, and had nothing to do with the season's standing.
Prior the this beginning of this stupidity, AL and NL teams met only during spring training and the World Series.
The following site has box scores dating back to 1957. If you go back even to 1990, and check the schedules, you'll see no interleague games. This is the type of source that you will need to prove that your friend is seriously lacking in his/her knowledge of the recent history of baseball.
There is caveat here, though. The Milwaukee Brewers were in the American League until 1998. Don't be fooled.
2007-03-30 14:10:09 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Prior to regulation interleague play there were times during the regular season months that teams did play against teams from the other league. But they were not games that counted in the standings.
I believe that even now on the Hall Of Fame Induction weekend there is a game played between an AL and NL team.
Also, at one time each team was required to play two exhibition games during the regular season. Many times the team would play their top minor league affiliate or a good college team.The Yankees and Mets used to play the Mayors Trophy game one time during the year. Needless to say the teams rarely played their star players to prevent injury.
I believe the RedSox also used to play an exbition game during the season to benefit The Jimmy Fund. As a matter of fact in 1986 the RedSox played the Mets in what turned out to be a preview of that year's Fall Classic.
2007-03-30 14:15:30 · answer #2 · answered by Postal Professor 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your fried is wrong. Before interleague play there were no regular season games between the 2 leagues. As previously stated, certain teams in the same city or vicinity played each other but it was always an exhibition game that didn't count in any standings.
2007-03-30 16:06:34 · answer #3 · answered by DoReidos 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There was no interleague play before interleague play was introduced. Interleague play needs to go, they don't even do what they said they would. Example of the initial interleague play, AL East vs NL East in 2007, AL East vs NL Central in 2008, AL East vs NL West in 2009. It was scrapped so they can play the natural rivals, Mets/Yankees, Cubs/White Sox, Dodgers/Angels, thus in my opinion it needs to go away. It's bad enough the balanced schedule was scrapped, having interleague makes the schedule even less balanced. They need to dump interleague play and go back to the balanced schedule, thats the best way to find the best teams.
2007-03-30 14:15:55 · answer #4 · answered by John H 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No they did not play against each other before interleague play began in 1997. Heres a site that gives more:
2007-03-30 14:11:14 · answer #5 · answered by aggiebasketball25 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No there was not, The Expos and Bluejays would play a preseason game, the Mets and Yankees used to play for the Mayors trophy,the Cubs and Whitesox would play a game ect..... But only for bragging rights.
2007-03-30 16:39:12 · answer #6 · answered by martin d 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there wasn't official interleague play, but there were games like the Cubs vs. Sox, Yanks vs. Sox as exhibition games.
2007-03-30 17:17:47 · answer #7 · answered by Joe J 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They did not play in official games, though there were more exhibition games between teams in different leagues in the early days of baseball.
2007-03-30 14:28:42 · answer #8 · answered by JerH1 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
um, there was interleague play before interleague play existed...something tells me no
2007-03-30 15:20:41 · answer #9 · answered by Brendan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the old days, there were only 10 teams, so they HAD to play each other. The cubs, sox, yankees, red sox, tigers, red stockings, Indians, Cardinals, Pirates, Giants, Dodgers, and others had to play each other, they were the only teams around.
2007-03-30 14:30:17 · answer #10 · answered by Brad 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋