June 21: History of The Amazins and the Fightins

The Main Event

• June 21, 1963 – The Phillies drop a 3-1 game to the Mets at the Polo Grounds. Notably, the only players to get more than one hit were the starting pitchers: new York’s Al Jackson (2-for-4) and Phillie Cal McLish (2-for-2).
• June 21, 1964 – Jim Bunning threw a Fathers’ Day perfect game against the NY Mets. It was the first perfect game in the NL in 84 years, and Bunning’s second no-hitter. In the second game of the twin-bill, rookie Rick Wise won his first start, allowing only three hits.
• June 21, 2000 – Pat Burrell goes deep twice as the Phillies beat the Mets 10-5. He was the first Phillies rookie with a multi-homer game, and repeated the feat on August 8.

Few rivalries in Major League Baseball carry as much heat, history, and hard feelings as the one between the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. Known informally as the “Battle of the Broads” — a nod to Broadway in New York and Broad Street in Philadelphia — this NL East clash has produced some of the most memorable and maddening moments in the sport. From a Father’s Day perfect game in the early 1960s to a historic first postseason meeting in 2024, the Mets and Phillies have never made things easy on each other — or on their fans.

Origins: The Early Years (1962–1969)

The rivalry was born in 1962 when the Mets entered the National League as an expansion franchise. From the start, games between these two clubs were rarely short on drama — even when the teams themselves were. On June 21, 1963, the Phillies dropped a 3–1 decision to the Mets at the Polo Grounds. What made the game memorable wasn’t just the score but who did the hitting: the only players on either side to collect more than one hit were the two starting pitchers — New York’s Al Jackson went 2-for-4, and Philadelphia’s Cal McLish went 2-for-2. It was a quirk of baseball that encapsulated the scrappy, unpredictable spirit that would define this rivalry for decades to come.

The following Father’s Day, June 21, 1964, produced one of the most dazzling individual performances in the history of both franchises. Phillies right-hander Jim Bunning took the mound for the first game of a doubleheader at Shea Stadium and retired all 27 Mets he faced, throwing the first perfect game in the National League in 84 years and the first in Phillies franchise history. It was also Bunning’s second career no-hitter, making him one of the rare pitchers to achieve the feat in both leagues. In the nightcap of that same twin bill, Phillies rookie Rick Wise won his first major league start, holding the Mets to just three hits — a fitting coda to a spectacular afternoon for Philadelphia. For the Mets, it was a painful day; the club would finish that season with a dismal 53–109 record, worst in the majors.

The Lean-Year Dynamic: Neither Team Peaking Together

For much of the rivalry’s first few decades, the Mets and Phillies had an almost courteous arrangement: they took turns being good. When the Mets won the World Series in 1969, the Phillies were near the bottom of the division. When Philadelphia dominated the NL East with three straight division titles in the late 1970s and captured the World Series in 1980, the Mets were mired in mediocrity. Both teams won World Series championships in the 1980s — Philadelphia’s in 1980, New York’s in 1986 — but rarely at the same time, which kept the rivalry from reaching its true boiling point.

Still, even in the lean years, the two clubs found ways to make noise against each other. On September 17, 1984, a teenage Dwight Gooden put on an extraordinary pitching display against the Phillies at Veterans Stadium, striking out 16 batters without issuing a single walk — and still lost, 1–0, thanks to an eighth-inning balk. It was a heartbreaking performance that nonetheless announced to the baseball world that “Doc” was something special.

The 1980s: Blood, Brawls, and Bad Blood

By the mid-to-late 1980s, the rivalry had developed a genuine mean streak. As the Mets built toward their 1986 World Series title — behind stars like Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, and Gary Carter — tensions with the Phillies grew fierce. The Mets clinched the NL East that year in a game against Philadelphia, having been swept by the Phillies in Philadelphia just weeks earlier, before turning the tables at home. The Phillies, to their credit, played spoiler more than once: in 1987, despite the Mets going 13–5 against them for the season, Philadelphia won two of three critical games in September that damaged New York’s division title hopes.

The rivalry reached a flashpoint on August 9, 1990, when Gooden charged the mound at Shea Stadium after Phillies pitcher Pat Combs hit him in the knee — retaliation, most believed, for Gooden having plunked two Phillies batters earlier in the game. Phillies catcher Darren Daulton followed Gooden onto the field and landed a series of punches on the back of his head. Darryl Strawberry, who had been in the clubhouse, rushed out to help his teammate but was blindsided by outfielder Von Hayes. Six players were ejected. It was, by most accounts, the worst brawl either franchise had seen, and it set a tone of simmering animosity that would last well into the next decade.

Pat Burrell’s Breakout: June 21, 2000

On June 21, 2000 — exactly 36 years after Bunning’s perfect game — the Mets and Phillies met again, and this time it was a Philadelphia rookie who stole the show for different reasons. First baseman Pat Burrell hit two home runs as the Phillies pounded the Mets 10–5. Burrell became the first Phillies rookie in franchise history to hit multiple home runs in a single game — a feat he would repeat on August 8 of that same season. It was an early glimpse of the power bat that would become a cornerstone of Philadelphia’s lineup for the next decade.

The Rivalry Ignites: The 2006–2011 Era

The modern peak of this rivalry arrived in the mid-2000s, when both teams were finally competing for the same postseason real estate at the same time. The Mets won the NL East in 2006, but the following January, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins lit a fuse by declaring his team “the team to beat in the NL East.” Mets fans and players laughed it off — and kept laughing as the Phillies stumbled out of the gate in 2007. But Philadelphia caught fire as the summer wore on, and what followed became one of the most stunning collapses in baseball history.

With 17 games remaining in the 2007 season, the Mets held a seven-game lead in the division. They then went 5–12 down the stretch while the Phillies went 13–4, and on the final day of the season, Philadelphia clinched the division by one game. The September 14 game at Shea Stadium — a 3–2 Phillies win in 10 innings — is often cited as the moment the collapse truly began. Rollins’ bold prediction had come true, and he won the NL MVP Award to punctuate it. The Phillies would go on to win five consecutive division titles from 2007 to 2011, capturing the 2008 World Series along the way — often directly at the expense of the Mets, who missed the playoffs in the final game of the season in both 2007 and 2008.

The Record Books Take a Hit: August 16, 2018

The highest-scoring game in Mets history came against their NL East nemesis. On August 16, 2018, New York erupted for 24 runs in a 24–4 rout of the Phillies — a staggering total made even more painful for Philadelphia by the fact that 11 of those runs were unearned, fueled by four Phillies errors. The game began in deceptively ordinary fashion, sitting at 5–4 after four innings, before the Mets unloaded a 10-run fifth inning. It remains the benchmark for offensive dominance in this rivalry.

The 2024 NLDS: A Postseason Meeting 62 Years in the Making

Perhaps the most remarkable fact about this rivalry is that for all its fireworks, the Mets and Phillies had never met in the postseason — not once in 62 years of sharing a division. That finally changed in October 2024, when the Mets, entering as a sixth-seeded wild card team, faced the NL East champion Phillies in the NLDS.

The series was a thriller from the start. The Mets won Game 1 in Philadelphia 6–2 behind a strong outing from Kodai Senga. Game 2 went to the Phillies 7–6 in walk-off fashion, with Nick Castellanos delivering the series-tying single in the bottom of the ninth after a back-and-forth final three innings. But the Mets responded by winning Game 3 at Citi Field 7–2, then closed the series out in Game 4 with a 4–1 victory sealed by Francisco Lindor‘s grand slam in the sixth inning — a defining moment in Citi Field’s history. Edwin Díaz, working through a shaky ninth, ultimately struck out Kyle Schwarber with two runners on to earn the first postseason save of his career and send the Mets to the NLCS for the first time since 2015.

What Makes This Rivalry Special

More than six decades after Al Jackson and Cal McLish were outswinging their own lineups at the Polo Grounds, the Mets and Phillies remain one of baseball’s most compelling feuds. The geography — just 95 miles separating Citi Field and Citizens Bank Park — ensures the stands are always split and the emotions always run high. From Jim Bunning’s perfect game to Doc Gooden charging the mound, from the 2007 collapse to Francisco Lindor’s grand slam, this is a rivalry built on moments that neither fan base will ever fully get over. That’s exactly what makes it great.

Coming up… The Phillies and Mets meet tonight at 7:20 on Sunday Night Baseball. The game will be broadcast on NBC and Peacock TV.

Philadelphia Baseball Events for June 21

• June 21, 1948 – Lost Paul Erickson on waivers to the New York Giants. The Phillies had claimed Erickson off waivers from the Cubs just a month earlier.
• June 21, 1955 – Richie Ashburn hits 2 home runs as the Phillies beat St. Louis 10-8. He would go on to have two more multi-homer games, but only 29 career home runs.
• June 21, 1957 – Granny Hamner hits a ground ball to short, then argues with the umpire over the call at first, resulting in an ejection. The twist is, he was called safe. The real issue is not the call, but umpire Ken Burkhart taking exception to Hamner making the call before he did.
• June 21, 1974 – Purchased Pete Richert from the St. Louis Cardinals. Richert made 21 relief appearances with the Phillies, posting a 2-1 record with a 2.21 ERA. The Phillies released him after the season and he never returned to the majors.
• June 21, 1986 – The season ends for Philadelphia Phillies catcher Darren Daulton when he tears the ACL in his left knee in a home plate collision with the St. Louis Cardinals’ Mike Heath. St. Louis wins the game 8-6.
• June 21, 1988 – Hired St. Louis Farm Director Lee Thomas as GM.
• June 21, 2003 – Jim Thome hits two game-tying home runs with solo shots in the eighth and twelfth innings. The Phils finally beat Boston 5-6 in the 13th inning on a Todd Pratt home run.
• June 21, 2008 – For only the second time in team history, four Phillies strike out in an inning. The Angels’ Scot Shields struck out Greg Dobbs and Jimmy Rollins in the eighth, then Shane Victorino struck out but made it safely to first on a wild pitch. Pat Burrell walked, then Ryan Howard struck out.
• June 21, 2012 – Jimmy Rollins joined Vice President Joe Biden at the White House to introduce a public service announcement against violence towards women.

ICYMI

• Philly Baseball News – Phillies Sign Three Players From Independent Leagues
• PBN Extra Innings – The Saturday 6: Six Players Who Climbed From Independent Baseball to the Majors (subscription req’d.)

Philadelphia Birthdays for June 21

• Bert Adams (born 1891) – A catcher who played for the Phillies from 1915-1919 and hit .201 in 240 games.

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