mysql date in_MySQL查询中的日期/字符串差异(Date/String Discrepancy in MySQL Queries)

I'm noticing some strange behavior in MySQL regarding queries with dates in the WHERE clause. I'm fairly new to MySQL so I'm wondering if this is intended behavior or if there is something I can do to fix this.

The following queries return everything in the table, as if there is no date parameter at all. I get results with dates from 1997 and dates from 2015+.

select * from shipments where file_creation_date > 9/12/2014

select * from shipments where file_creation_date > 2014-9-12

select * from shipments where file_creation_date > 2014-09-12

The following queries work just fine:

select * from shipments where file_creation_date > '2014-9-12'

select * from shipments where file_creation_date > '2014-09-12'

Notice how the date is formatted as a string. The datatype for that column is DATE and the format is yyyy-mm-dd. You'd expect an actual date to work just fine, but for some reason it only works if I make it a string with the right format.

The database we are using currently accepts dates in pretty much any format, as a date, or as a string and the query works fine. Why is it that MySQL only accepts a very specifically formatted string when the datatype is DATE? Is there something I can do to change this?

Thanks