It’s a Whole New Ballgame

With one low, inside fastball from Darren Oliver to Darryl Hamilton, baseball’s era of interleague play was under way Thursday night and the game’s 126-year tradition of keeping its major leagues separate was over.

The course of baseball history changed forever at 5:11 p.m. with a pitch destined for Cooperstown.

The game itself -- between the San Francisco Giants of the National League and the Texas Rangers of the American League -- will go down as the first time teams from different leagues met in the regular season since the first major league was formed in 1871.

Willie Mays and Nolan Ryan, two links to baseball’s rich past, were on hand to launch baseball into its a future that will include 214 AL-NL meetings this year.

Mays, wearing a Giants hat, threw out a ceremonial first ball to AL president Gene Budig. Ryan, wearing a Rangers cap, was next on the mound and threw to NL president Len Coleman.

“I think it’s going to be good for a couple of years, then hopefully it’ll go on,” Mays said, referring to the fact interleague play is technically a two-year experiment.

Before the game, Hamilton was taking a wait-and-see approach to his place in baseball history.

“If interleague play stays here, then obviously I’ll be excited because my name will be the first batter,” he said.

Hamilton also will go down as having the first hit in interleague play. On a 2-1 count, he grounded a single to right field against the team he played for last season.

Stan Javier of the Giants hit the first home run, tying at it 1 in the third inning. The previous half-inning, Texas’ Damon Buford scored the first run, on a single by Billy Ripken.

“The National League competing against the American League is like a little World Series. I think I’m more nervous than excited,” Giants star Barry Bonds said.

The game, which remained tied at 1 through five innings, began with a definite NL feel. Jose Vizcaino faked a bunt after Hamilton’s leadoff walk -- something rarely seen in the AL -- and the Rangers’ first run was scratched out on an error, a stolen base and a ground-ball single up the middle.

Texas obviously had been scouting San Francisco as it played Bonds with such a strong shift that Ripken, the shortstop, was several feet to the right of second base. Bonds grounded out to the second baseman and popped out to center in his first two at-bats.

The Rangers greeted the landmark event with an all-out celebration worthy of an All-Star game or the playoffs.

Red, white and blue bunting was draped throughout the park. A logo proclaiming this the “First Interleague Game” was painted on first, second and third bases, and emblazoned on banners outside each stadium entrance. Players also wore patches on their left sleeves featuring the interleague logo: a pair of eagles with an AL/NL banner.

A sellout crowd arrived early to soak it all in. Many were treated to autographs from the Giants, including Bonds, then everyone heard country music sensation LeAnn Rimes sing the national anthem. She barely had the final few words out when fireworks went off above the center-field scoreboard.

“It’s somewhat of a playoff atmosphere,” Giants manager Dusty Baker said.

Rangers manager Johnny Oates said he couldn’t believe how much was going on around the stadium when he arrived.

“I think it’s much, much, much bigger than I anticipated,” Oates said. “As much as we’d like to be cool and say it’s just another ballgame, it’s not. It’s special.”

The game was played with a standard AL issue ball, although fans could purchase a commemorative baseball with “First Interleague Game” stamped between the seams.

Game tickets also featured those words, making them collector’s items. Mindful of that, attendants marked the backs of tickets instead of tearing them. Other souvenirs included hats, T-shirts, lapel pins and programs -- about 10,000 of those were printed, twice as many as usual.

Baseball has been through many changes since the first major league, the National Association, was formed in 1871, but interleague play is among the most radical -- the biggest since the AL began using a designated hitter in 1973.

Purists fear the commingling of the leagues will water down the All-Star game and World Series. Supporters say it’s exactly the boost the game needs with fans.

“I think this goes against the tradition,” Ryan said, “but I think baseball realizes that the sports dollar nowadays, with all the competition, they’re in a period of change.”

The idea of interleague play has been around since Bill Veeck Sr. first suggested it in the 1920s. In 1954, Walter O’Malley told The Sporting News he liked it.

O’Malley shook up baseball three years later by moving his Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, exposing the big leagues to fans west of Kansas City. Major overhauls since then include expansions in 1961, 1962, 1969, 1977 and 1993, the birth of free agency after the 1976 season, and eight labor stoppages since 1972.

Yet, through it all, the leagues remained apart.

After the decision was made in January 1996 to give the concept a two-year test, Texas became the debut site by accident. Because West division teams will play 16 interleague games each while East and Central teams play 15 apiece, the West starts interleague play a day ahead of the others.

The AL West was chosen to play host to the NL West in the first series, and the Rangers are the division’s only team in the Central time zone. The other three games were in California, starting two hours later.

Baseball schedulers admit they gave no thought toward marketing when they set the interleague debut for Thursday night. The most intense rivalries -- such as Mets vs. Yankees and Cubs vs. White Sox -- won’t take place until next week.

Next season will feature an interleague game nearly every day because each league will feature 15 teams.

For Texas, the game was another chance to show off it’s gorgeous retro-style ballpark. The game also has played host to the 1995 All-Star game and the playoffs last October.

Not only will the ball used for the first pitch end up at the Hall of Fame, but a base -- autographed by players from both teams -- also will be sent to Cooperstown.