From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD
100 Years Ago Today: The New York Giants and New York Yankees 1921 Seasons Revisited
In their last season at Hilltop Park, the now formerly known New York Highlanders lost 102 games. Rebranded as the Yankees, in 1913, they moved just a few blocks away into the Polo Grounds as tenants of the Senior Circuit's New York Giants. To the chagrin of Giants manager John McGraw, the Americans proceeded to lose another 94 games.
Known to hold a grudge, McGraw, two full decades later, still harbored much animosity not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees themselves who were founded at the expense of his rendered defunct Baltimore Orioles.
For as long as the Yankees paid their rent, the tenant/landlord relationship with the Giants remained amicably strained. Mainly because the middling Americans, except for one season in 1916, never elevated themselves above the ranks of Junior Circuit also-rans. But that changed in 1919 when they briefly vied for the pennant but tuckered out down the stretch to finish third. A franchise-record 619,164 fans showed up to root for the American League contenders. However, the Yankees' burgeoning success was not yet a pressing issue, per see, for the Giants, who were coming off a second-place finish and their best season in a decade at the turnstile.
Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates along the New York/New England fault shifted. The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sent seismic waves reverberating throughout the baseball world but none more intense than in Washington Heights. Ruth's earth-shattering record of 54 home runs was something never experienced before in the history of baseball but an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation as one who believed players worked too hard and earnestly only to have their skills disrespected by some miscreant's lone swing of the bat.
Gotham's citizenry never before descended from Coogan's Bluff in such quantity and spectacle than in 1920 as the Giants would set a franchise record with 929,609 reported attendance. However, the New York Nationals faced an economic dilemma of Ruthian proportions. McGraw's disdain for his tenants was further heightened when the Yankees outdrew the host Giants in their own home for the first time in each franchise's history. Headlined by Babe Ruth, the Yankees seized the city's attention, evidenced by an all-time major league record of 1,289,422 in attendance.
In 1921, over two million fans would again pack the Polo Grounds. Babe Ruth would continue forward accomplishing the unimaginable, and if that wasn't surreal enough, he proceeds to top it - all the while with each passing day John McGraw grows more incensed. Lest we forget, New York City is still Little Napoleon's empire.
Sharing a ballpark for both teams is becoming an insufferable condition. A resolution lies not too far away ...
In the meantime, two major league titans charge headlong into a season-ending October clash at the Polo Grounds. It is New York City's first-ever World's Championship Subway Series. All games are played at the Polo Grounds, making Coogan's Bluff the center of the baseball universe.
This is my replay of that season. I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible. More than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.
- Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE
Enjoy the games and PLAY BALL!!
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GAME #2
Philadelphia Athletics @ NEW YORK YANKEES
POLO GROUNDS
Brooklyn-born Waite Hoyt starts for the Yankees and is opposed by Philadelphia's sophomore right-hander Eddie Rommel. After three scoreless frames, Athletics first baseman Frank Brazil leads off the top of the fourth with a triple to left field. With two outs and center fielder Frank Welch at the plate, Brazil steals home. Welch then follows with a triple of his own and scores on a hit through the left side by shortstop Chick Galloway. First baseman Wally Pipp gets the Yankees on the board in the bottom half of the frame with an inside-the-park home run into the left/center field gap. Pinch-hitting for Waite Hoyt in the seventh, Chicken Hawks singles home Aaron Ward with the tying run. Facing Jack Quinn pitching in Hoyt's relief, catcher Cy Perkins leads off the top of the ninth with a triple to right field. Frank Welch drives him home and later scores on a hit from second baseman Jimmy Dykes for a 4-2 lead and the final victory margin. Waite Hoyt escapes with a no-decision while Jack Quinn suffers the loss. Eddie Rommel yields three runs, two earned, on eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts through nine innings for the victory.
- FINAL: PHI 4; NYY 2
- RECORD: 1-1
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GAME #2
New York Giants @ PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Baker Bowl
Rather than wait for extra innings as they did one day ago, the visiting New York Giants this time scored early and often en route to a second straight victory at Philadelphia. New York's first five batters promptly knocked Phillies starter Lee Meadows, out of the box, striking four hits and a walk for four runs. Not yet done, the Giants press reliever George Smith for two more runs and a 6-0 first-inning lead. With two outs in the fourth, High Pockets Kelly drives home, Dave Bancroft. Afterwhich, the Giants plate three more runs in the seventh for a 10-0 lead. Philadelphia ruins the shutout with single runs in the eighth and ninth innings. Last season's 21-game winner, Art Nehf, limits the Phillies to a pair of late runs on eight hits and just one walk with a strikeout. Right fielder Curt Walker, High Pockets Kelly, and catcher Frank Snyder each drive in two runs apiece. Walker and Snyder account for six of the Giants' 15 hits.
- FINAL: NYG 10; PHI 2
- RECORD: 2-0
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