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 work 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!
GAME #9
Washington Senators @ NEW YORK YANKEES
POLO GROUNDS
Big Train Outlasts Carl Mays; Litany of Errors Highlight Highlanders' Undoing
For the 15,000 on hand, victory seemed a surety. With two outs in the first, Babe Ruth connects off the great Walter Johnson for his fifth home this season. With two outs and two on base in the fourth, third baseman Aaron Ward singles home both Ruth and Wally Pipp. Staked to a 3-0 lead, starter Carl Mays keeps the Senators hitless through seven. However, his flirtations with history are rebuffed in the eighth. After issuing consecutive walks, first baseman Joe Judge singles to left/center breaking up the no-hitter and loading the bases. Afterwhich, right-fielder Clyde Milan follows with a comebacker that hits Mays and winds up being misplayed by catcher Wally Shang resulting in two unearned runs crossing the plate. Next up, center fielder Sam Rice's sacrifice fly to right field scores Judge tying the game at three. After Walter Johnson retires the Yankees in the bottom half of the frame, the Senators become beneficiaries of two more New York errors leading to another pair of runs and a sudden 5-3 lead. Walter Johnson again retires the Yankees in order during their last half of the ninth to close out his second victory this season against one loss. Big Train allows just five hits and strikes out seven. Carl Mays suffers his first defeat, allowing five runs, but only two earned, on four hits and five walks with four strikeouts. The Yankees' suffer a second straight defeat against Washington and their third loss in a row, including Philadelphia.
- FINAL: WAS 5; NYY 3
- RECORD: 5-4; third place, 2.0 GB of Cleveland
⚾
GAME #9
New York Giants @ BROOKLYN ROBINS
Ebbets Field
Uncle Robbie Gets Best of Giants in Series Opener
In this season's opening battle of the boroughs, Uncle Robbie's defending National League champions turn back local foe John McGraw and his band of aspiring contenders in game one of four scheduled this week at Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. The host Robins promptly open the scoring against New York's Art Nehf. Leading off, Ivy Olson doubles and soon scores on a Bernie Neis fielder's choice. The Giants answered back against Brooklyn starter Dutch Reuther with a leadoff triple off the bat of center fielder Eddie Brown and a follow-up single from the third baseman Goldie Rapp. But Brooklyn gets the better of Nehf in the third. Ivy Olson walks and scores on third baseman Jimmy Johnston's triple. Bernie Neis then follows with an inside park home run to center field, scoring Johnston for a 4-1 lead and the final margin of victory. For Nehf, a second straight ineffective start. He now owns a 5.11 ERA through his first 19.1 innings pitched. First-year Robins pitcher acquired from Cincinnati, Dutch Reuther, yields just one earned run in eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts to even his record at 1-1 with a 4.86 ERA.
- FINAL: NYG 1; BKN 4
- RECORD: 6-3; third place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh
This series is truly amazing. Thank you for doing this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words. Two seasons ago I did the NYM 1969 season along with the Brooklyn Tip Tops. Last year I revisited the 1920 Brooklynn Robins. Now I can't stop!
Delete