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 se, 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 shift. The Yankees' purchase of George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox sends 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 has little appreciation as one who believes 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 solution 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 #8
Philadelphia Phillies @ NEW YORK GIANTS
POLO GROUNDS
Phil Douglas One-Hits Phillies in Front of 35,000 at Polo Grounds
After retiring the first five batters faced, Giants starter Phil Douglas surrenders a second-inning base hit to Phillies shortstop Ralph Miller who is quickly erased from the basepaths when thrown out attempting to steal second by catcher Frank Snyder. After which, Douglas does not yield another hit for the rest of the game. Phil strikes out five and walks three, and despite two more errors by Dave Bancroft at short, he only faces two batters over the minimum. Douglas comes to his own defense by first picking off Cliff Lee at first base in the fifth, then after walking leadoff pinch-hitter Greasy Neale to open the ninth inning, he initiates a 1-6-3 double play. Backstop Frank Snyder also throws out two baserunners attempting to steal. Facing Philadelphia starter Lee Meadows with one out in the sixth, Frankie Frisch singles through the middle and scores on High Pocket Kelly's triple to center field for the lone run of the game. This marks Lee Meadows' second loss in three appearances so far against the Giants. Phil Douglas improves to 2-0 with a 1.64 earned run average. Upwards of 35,000 fans expressed their appreciation. Next on the docket, the Manhattanites are off to Brooklyn to play four against the Robins before returning to the Polo Grounds to host the Boston Braves.
- FINAL: PHI 0; NYG 1
- RECORD: 6-2; second place, 0.5 GB of Pittsburgh
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GAME #8
New York Yankees @ WASHINGTON SENATORS
Griffith Stadium
Senators Take Opener; Yanks Drop Second Straight
If not for an unearned run in the first inning, Washington's Tom Zachary effectively blanks the Yankees en route to a slim 3-1 series-opening victory at Griffith Stadium. Roger Peckinpaugh reaches safely on one of just five hits by the Yankees and eventually scores on one of three errors committed in the game by the Senators. After which, the Yankees offense short circuits over the remaining eight innings. Zachary, as noted, yields one unearned run on five hits and two walks with nine strikeouts for his second win against one loss. In his second start, rookie right-hander Bill Piercy takes the loss upon yielding three runs (two earned) on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts. Washington shortstop Frank O'Rourke goes 1 for 4 with a triple and two runs batted in, and center fielder Sam Rice drives in the Senators' other run. With two more hits, Babe Ruth is 15 for 30 (.500) to start the season with eight extra-base hits, including three home runs and eleven runs batted in. Nevertheless, the Yankees lose their second straight and thus fall into third place, one-half game behind the Senators and a full game behind the Cleveland Indians.
- FINAL: NYY 1; WAS 3
- RECORD: 5-3; third place 1.0 GB of Cleveland
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