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
New York Giants @ BOSTON BRAVES
Braves Field
Phil Douglas Rebounds With Effective Effort; Giants Continue Heavy-Hitting at Wet Braves Field
Continuing along with a pace of productivity set at Philadelphia, Giants hitters arrive in Boston with hot bats and umbrellas in hand. As has also been their trend, New York opens the scoring early, then pours it on late. Braves starter Hugh McQuillan takes the loss, having surrendered eight runs, four earned, seven hits, and four walks through six innings pitched. All told, the Giants tally nine runs, five earned, on eight hits and seven walks. High Pockets Kelley goes 2 for 5 with a double, and with two more runs batted in, he now has ten through the first four games. Six different Giants drive in runs, Dave Bancroft his first, and Curt Walker his fourth. Starter Phil Douglas also drives in a run. Pitching on the heels of an ineffective opening effort against the Phillies, Douglas yields just one unearned run on six hits and four walks over nine innings for a redemptive series-opening victory at Braves Field. After which, the same storm clouds that rained out Monday's game likewise hinder today's efforts towards staging a second makeup match.
- FINAL: NYG 9; BOS 1
- RECORD: 3-1
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Boston Red Sox @ NEW YORK YANKEES
Monday, April 18, 1925: RAINOUT
Tuesday, April 19, 1925: Wet Grounds
POLO GROUNDS
April showers bring May flowers, and so goes the baseball season in Spring. After Sunday's series-opening victory over the Red Sox, two straight days of heavy rain have put the Yankees' momentum on hold. The grounds were simply too wet after a 36-hour downpour. This makes three games (Apr. 15) lost to rain with the season not yet a week old.
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