From the desk: WHEN THE POLO GROUNDS WAS THE WORLD
100 Years Ago Today at the Polo Grounds:
New York Giants & 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 ... PLAY BALL!
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GAME #4
Boston Red Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES
POLO GROUNDS
Carl Mays Whitewashes Visiting Boston Red Sox in Front of 15,000 at Polo Grounds
Facing Boston's Sad Sam Jones, second baseman Chuck Fewster leads off the bottom of the first with a hit to left field. Roger Peckinpaugh successfully bunts Chuck to second, and Babe Ruth's sacrifice fly to right field advances him to third base. With two outs, first baseman Wally Pipp singles to center field, driving home Fewster. New York Yankees starter Carl Mays takes care of the rest. A former two-time 20-game winner for the Red Sox, the veteran right-hander, shuts out Boston limiting them to just four hits and three walks with three strikeouts for his second victory of the young season. With two outs in the sixth inning, third baseman Curt Walker doubles home Wally Pipp for a 2-0 Yankees lead. Pipp again singles with one out in the eighth and scores on Bob Meusel's triple to left field. Center fielder Ping Bodie follows with a single, scoring Meusel for a 4-0 lead and the Yankees' final margin of victory. Also, facing his former team again, Babe Ruth goes 0 for 3 but drew an intentional walk with one out in the third and Peckinpaugh standing on second base. Otherwise, Wally Pipp carries the day going 3 for 4 with a double, two runs scored, and one run batted in. Winners of three out of their first four games, the Yankees enjoy an early half-game lead over the second-place Washington Senators, who yesterday fell to these very Red Sox.
- FINAL: BOS 0; NYY 4
- RECORD: 3-1
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New York Giants: April 17, 1921, Travel Day
Next Game: Monday, April 18, 1921, @ BOSTON BRAVES
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