page_title: Mets–Phillies rivalry
section_title: 1991–1994
hierarchical_section_title: Mets–Phillies rivalry / 1980s–1990s / 1991–1994
caption_attribution_description: English: John Franco
context_page_description: The Mets–Phillies rivalry or Battle of the Broads is a Major League Baseball rivalry between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. Both clubs are members of MLB's National League East division. The rivalry between the two clubs is said to be among the most fiercely contested in the NL. The two NL East divisional rivals have met each other recently in playoff, division, and Wild Card races. The Battle of the Broads name is a nod to both cities having the word Broad in their street names: Broadway in New York, and Broad Street in Philadelphia.
  Aside from several brawls in the 1980s, the rivalry remained relatively low-key before the 2006 season, as the teams had seldom been equally good at the same time. A notable moment in their early meetings was Jim Bunning's perfect game on Father's Day of 1964, the first perfect game in Phillies history, which happened when the Mets were on a losing streak. The Phillies were near the bottom of the NL East when the Mets won the 1969 World Series and the National League pennant in 1973, while the Mets did not enjoy success in the late 1970s when the Phillies won three straight division championships.
context_section_description: The tone of baseball rivalries changed in the early 1990s; fraternization between players who had moved to different teams or knew each other from various ventures kept baseball rivalries to a "friendly" level. However, Major League Baseball's 1994 divisional re-alignment solidified the rivalry between the Phillies and Mets. The Pittsburgh Pirates, former members of the National League East and in-state rivals of the Phillies, moved into the newly created National League Central Division, and the Atlanta Braves, former members of the National League West, entered the division. Prior to the switch, the East Division contained seven teams, spread out over a wider geographical area, including the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs, as well as the expansion Florida Marlins. Members of all 28 teams, including the Phillies and Mets, drew together during the 1994 labor stoppage, but players from both teams were on opposite sides of the argument even then. Dykstra claimed that he was losing $30,000 ($50,336 in current dollars) per day for every day he did not work during the strike. While other players chastised Dykstra for his comments, Mets pitcher and player representative John Franco intimated that if someone crossed the picket line, as Dykstra suggested, "'once we get back in I'll be the first to kick his [butt]  [sic]'".
caption: John Franco threatened to "kick [Lenny Dykstra's] butt" if he crossed the picket line during the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike.
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