Twenty-five years ago, interleague play began. The Cubs’ very first interleague game was against the White Sox, on the South Side, June 18, 1997. There was all kinds of hype surrounding the series and 36,213 attended, even though it was on a Monday afternoon. (The other two games of that series were sellouts, over 44,000.)
That was the year the Cubs started 0-14; they entered that series 27-40. The Sox had been expected to contend that year, but they also struggled when that year began and were 30-35 as that set began. The Cubs won the game 8-3 behind solid pitching from Kevin Foster, while teeing off on former Cub Jaime Navarro.