100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 4/30/1921: High Pockets Kelly Slam Sinks Braves; Yankees Postponed Again at Boston

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—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees in 1921 to no avail.  But a solution lies not too far away ...  

Until then, 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 #13

BOXSCORE: Saturday, April 30, 1921 - BR

Boston Braves @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

High Pockets Kelly Grand Slam Highlights Giants Victory Over Braves

After Friday's postponement, the Giants take the field with energy at the Polo Grounds.  Despite yielding a run in the first, the Giants furnish starter Art Nehf with more than enough support to get him through to his third victory of the season against one loss.  Nehf allows four runs, three earned, twelve hits, and one walk with three strikeouts through nine.  The bottom of the order, center fielder Curt Walker, third baseman Goldie Rapp, and catcher Earl Smith all drive in runs against Braves starter Joe Oeschger.  Right fielder Ross Youngs' sacrifice-fly to center field off reliever Ira Townsend scores George Burns giving the Giants a 4-1 lead after five.  Then with one out and the bases loaded in the seventh, High Pockets Kelly connects for a grand slam home run to deep right field for a commanding 9-2 advantage.  Acquired from Pittsburgh, Braves right fielder Billy Southworth drives home two runs in the top of the ninth to no avail.  The Giants get back in the win column after sustaining four straight losses at Brooklyn.  They close out the month of April with a modest 7-6 record.

• FINAL: BOS 4; NYG 9
• RECORD: 7-6 (.538); fourth place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

GAME CALLED: Rain

Saturday, April 30, 1921

New York Yankees @ BOSTON RED SOX

Fenway Park

The visiting New York Yankees and host Red Sox 

are rained out for a second consecutive day at Boston.

The Boston Globe, April 30, 1921

Boston Sunday Globe, May 1, 1921

The Metsian Podcast: Putting April Through the Translator with The Record/NorthJersey Mets Columnist Justin Tuscano

From the desk: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

GUEST

From The Record and NorthJersey.com

New York Mets Columnist 

JUSTIN C. TUSCANO

104 minutes

APRIL WRAP-UP

Early Assessments ~ Hitting Woes ~ Mother Nature

Zack Scott ~ Luis Rojas ~ Chili Davis ~ Sandy Alderson

Jacob deGrom ~ Michael Conforto ~ Pete Alonso ~ Francisco Lindor

Tom Seaver ~ Doc Gooden ~ Brandon Nimmo

and so much more!

#LGM

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 4/29/1921: More Rain Cancels Games at New York and Boston

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.  The Giants attempt to evict the Yankees in 1921 to no avail.  But a solution lies not too far away ...  

Until then, 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 CALLED: Rain

Friday, April 29, 1921

Boston Braves @ NEW YORK GIANTS

POLO GROUNDS

• 4/30/1921 - High Pockets Kelly Slam Sinks Braves; Yanks Postponed Again at Boston

• 4/29/1921 - More Rain Cancels Games at New York and Boston

• 4/28/1921 - Yankees Salvage Finale From Senators; Giants Swept at Ebbets Field

• 4/27/1921 - Washington Takes Fourth Straight From Yankees; Giants Drop Third Straight at Ebbets

• 4/26/1921 - Miller Huggins Decisions Under Scrutiny Following Loss To Senators; Southpaw Sherry Smith Confounds Giants at Ebbets

• 4/25/1921 - Walter Johnson Defeats Yankees at Polo Grounds; Giants Bow To Robins In Brooklyn

• 4/24/1921 - Phil Douglas Hurls Gem In Front of Packed House; Yankees Bow at Washington

• 4/23/1921 - Rain Cancels Games Along East Coast

• 4/22/1921 - Giants Win First Game at Home; Yankees Knocked Out of the Box at Shibe

• 4/21/1921 - Giants Drop Polo Grounds Opener to Phillies; Yankees Open Road Trip With Win Over A's

• 4/20/1921 - Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel Power Yanks Past Red Sox; Brave Receive Similar Treatment From Visiting Giants

New York Herald, April 19, 1921

• 4/19/1921 - Giants Squeeze In a Victory at Boston; Yankees Endure Second Straight Rainout

• 4/17/1921 - Yankees Blank Visiting Red Sox

• 4/16/1921 - Babe Ruth Hits First Home Run; Giants Fall at Philadelphia

• 4/14/1921 - Yankees Tripped Up By Athletics; Giants Win Second Straight at Philadelphia

• 4/13/1921 - Yankees Trounce Athletics in Home Opener; Giants Outlast Phils in Extras

GAME CALLED: Rain

Friday, April 29, 1921

New York Yankees @ BOSTON RED SOX

Fenway Park

New York Herald, Friday, April 29, 1921

The Rivalry: Islanders and Rangers Head Down the Stretch

From the desks: RAISE GRESCHNER WITH THE GREATS & THE LONG ISLAND NOMADS

THE RIVALRY

Islanders lead Rangers; 4-2

I - NYI 4; NYR 0

II - NYR 5; NYI 0

III - NYI 2; NYR 0

IV - NYR 4; NYI 1

V - NYI 3; NYR 2

VI - NYI 6; NYR 1

VII & VIII

New York Islanders

vs.

New York Rangers

FROM
Eighth Avenue Ice Hut

Trotz Putting Together a Jigsaw Puzzle While Quinn Is Just Making a Mess

Washington takes three straight from the Islanders and wins the season series six games against two.  Three of the last four confrontations have been 1-0 affairs, with a blowout sandwiched in between.  Long Island slides down to third place in the East, four points behind the Penguins, and five points behind the first-place Capitals with seven games remaining in their regular season.

On Tuesday, the Islanders commit one of the cardinal sins of hockey and pay a high price.  Never surrender a goal in the first two minutes or last two minutes of a period.  The Islanders did just that.  Daniel Sprong scores his tenth of the season within 1:29 minutes of the opening faceoff, and the Caps make it stand.

The Long Islanders are 12-9-1 since captain Anders Lee last played on Mar. 11 against the Devils.  Over that stretch, they still managed to outscore their opponents by a 53-47 margin.  But, truth be told, the Isles are just 4-5-1 since acquiring Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri, and as noted, losers of three straight.  In another indictment, the Isles have been outscored 24-18 since the duo's arrival.  That hints at a correlation.  Or, said another way, Coach Trotz is struggling to reconstruct his forward lines.

Whereas Islanders fans can be confident their head coach will ultimately implement a viable plan in time for the playoffs, Rangers fans, on the other hand, remain confounded by Coach Quinn's allergy-inspiring line decisions.  The Blueshirts remain four points behind the fourth-place Bruins.  However, Boston has two games in hand.

The Rangers are coming off a split against the Flyers and two consecutive wins against the Sabres.  Long Island comes to the city for the front end of a home-and-home.  After splitting the first four games of the season series, the Islanders have since won two straight over the Rangers for a 4-2 series edge.

Last Sunday against Buffalo, Mike Zibanejad scored his third hat trick of the season.

About that ...

We know about his terrible start to the season.  He failed to score in six of eight games in January and similarly failed to score in eight of eleven games in February.  Mika totaled just six points over his first 19 games of the season.  But we also know he was recovering from a pre-season bout with COVID.  He then scored in nine of 16 games in March for 21 points, and in April, to date, Mika has scored in twelve of 15 games for 19 points.  That gives him 40 points in his last 31 games.  His overall season stats now look more representative: 50 games, 20 goals, 26 assists, 46 points.

Now for the truth ...

In 16 games against the Devils and Flyers, Mika Zibanejad has ten goals and 17 assists for 27 points.  Through 34 games so far against the Islanders, Bruins, Capitals, Sabres, and Penguins, Mika has ten goals and nine assists for 19 points.

That's what's really going on.

N.Y. Mets: On Jacob's Escalating deGromination

From the desk: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

GREAT HURLERS OF METROPOLIS

This has everything to do with Jacob deGrom's performance last Friday, Apr. 23, against the Washington Nationals and the respectful fan debate that broke out on Twitter insofar as comparing and contrasting Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, and Jacob deGrom.

First, as someone who witnessed all three, I think I speak for like Mets fans in saying we've been blessed with a tradition steeped in such great starting pitching.

The following Tweets served as our impetus for conversation:

#Mets fans, I want to hear from YOU! Specifically those of you who watched Seaver in his prime...just how good IS Jacob deGrom? Is it history repeating itself? Better?Paging: @greg_prince @Metfanrich @Metstradamus @BTB_MikeII @MarkCHealey Anyone else with insight?

— The Coop (@Coopz22) April 24, 2021

For those old enough...Doc 1985 or Jake 2021?

— CTMetsfan (@Metfanrich) April 24, 2021

I was manning @THEMetsianPod the night of deGrom's masterpiece when thousands of thought bubbles exploded over my head.  I couldn't help but respond in several differing ways.  If you didn't know, @MetFanRich is one of my partners on the podcast, and @Coopz22 is similarly a friend of ours and the podcast.

First, my response to CTMetsFan:

• "This team and pandemic crowds vs. 1980s crowds and that raucous team complicate the answer."

Then, in reply to both, I said:

• "Doc was never better than 1984-1986, whereas deGrom is getting better by the season."

Somewhere along the way, I said:

• "Seaver, like Jacob, also had to fend for himself at the plate.  Ironically, the 1980s Mets took excellent care of Doc."

Speak for myself - I try my best to not compare eras. Different conditions, ballparks, mindsets, batters today care less of Ks.
We went bonkers if Seaver K'd nine; did same if Doc struck out 11; as we're doing now when deGrom (for a third straight start) fans 14 batters.

— B'klynTrolleyBlogger (@BTB_MikeII) April 24, 2021

• I also added that Jacob deGrom underwent Tommy John surgery as a minor league, and so I think time will be on his side.  

• In response to another comment, I said RA Dickey was a bright light during dim times and that he was a great craftsman but shouldn't be included in this exclusive company.

Then I dropped this ...

Suggest folks look again at Seaver's baseball card (Baseball Ref) and behold how his career record is populated with numbers in bold/italic, and/or both. It speaks to his greatness above and beyond his HOF contemporaries. He retired (keyword) 3rd on the all-time K list.

— B'klynTrolleyBlogger (@BTB_MikeII) April 24, 2021

And this ...

Seaver had nine straight seasons 200+ strikeouts; deGrom is in his eighth year with the Mets.

— B'klynTrolleyBlogger (@BTB_MikeII) April 24, 2021

⚾

My Mets fandom comes from my Mom's side of the family, whereas my father was a huge Yankees fan, but he also loved watching Tom Seaver.  I attended just one game in 1973 at the original Yankee Stadium.  During the summers of 1974 and 1975, he and I practically lived at Shea Stadium as the ballpark in the Bronx was undergoing renovations.  When 1976 rolled around, the monumental effort it took my pop to ensure we'd keep following both teams was revealed to me.  Bless his soul, for it afforded this young boy a fine view during numerous Tom Seaver starts.

I remember being at several of his games in 1974, particularly his Sept. 13, eleven strikeout, shutout performance against the Cubs.  Yes, I was young, but my father spoke glowingly of it.  I attended Opening Day in 1975, in which Seaver allowed just one earned run with nine strikeouts for the win.  In September, I watched Seaver shut out the Pirates on four hits and ten strikeouts for his 20th win of the season.  It was a day game with a huge crowd, and the place went nuts.  By this time, I had learned how to keep score.  Unbeknownst to me at that moment, I had just spent the summer witnessing Seaver's third Cy Young award-winning campaign.  

The following season of 1976 is when Pop and I attended our most Tom Seaver starts.  I watched The Franchise strike out eight Montreal Expos on Opening Day and was in attendance later that month when he fanned nine in a complete-game shutout performance against the Braves.  In July, I attended his ten strikeouts in ten scoreless innings loss against the Pirates.  Another loss against Dave Winfield and the San Diego Padres comes to mind.  So, yes, I sat through several defeats as well.  Later in September, I saw him strike out eight in a victory over the Cubs.

As we know, Tom Seaver was traded away the following summer ... *(sigh)*

⚾

In 2014, Jacob deGrom, like Tom Seaver and Doc Gooden before him, wins the Rookie of the Year award.

A year later, Jacob deGrom's winning effort over the Dodgers in Game One of the 2015 NLDS goes down as one of the organization's finest all-time playoff performances. He faces 27 batters over 7 innings, allowing no runs on just five hits, walking one, and striking out 13 batters for the victory.  He ties Tom Seaver for most strikeouts in a post-season game by a Met.  In the opening game of the 1973 NLCS against the Reds, Seaver strikes out 13 batters over 8.1 innings yet takes the loss.  Jacob deGrom also becomes only the third Mets pitcher to achieve double-digit strikeouts in a post-season game.  Seaver strikes out twelve batters against the Oakland A's in the '73 World Series but earns a no-decision, and Dwight Gooden fans ten Los Angeles Dodgers through 7 innings to open the 1988 NLCS but likewise walks off to a no-decision.

In 2018, a 30-year old Jacob deGrom crafts the finest campaign of his career to date, and perhaps one of the most dominant in Mets history.  Jacob leads the major leagues in ERA, ERA+, HR/9, and WAR for pitchers.  He leads the National League in fewest walks per nine innings, OBP against, SLG against, OPS against, and FIP.  He trails only Max Scherzer by mere fractions in WHiP, H/9, and strikeout/walk ratio.

• 32 Regular Season Starts
• 217 innings pitched
• 10-9 record
• 1.70 ERA
• 0.912 WHiP
• 269 strikeouts
• 6.3 H/9
• 1.9 W/9
• 11.15 K/9
• 5.84 K/W ratio
• 1.98 FIP
• 219 ERA+
• .196 average against/.244 OBP/.277 SLG/.521 OPS
• 0.4 HR/9
• 9.8 WAR

On April 16, he throws the first of his MLB record-setting 29 consecutive starts allowing three runs or less.  Jacob first breaks Doc Gooden's Mets record of 24 straight, then breaks the MLB record of 25 established back in 1910 by Chicago Cub King Cole.  The streak also tied the overall mark set over two seasons by Jake Arrieta.  Only four times throughout the streak did Jacob actually allow three runs.  He otherwise limited the opponent to two runs or less in 23 of 28 previous starts.  Moreover, Jacob deGrom allows one run or less in 21 (65%) of his 32 starts en route to his first Cy Young.  After May 2, Jacob deGrom's ERA never once climbs above two.  That's what you call Denton True deGromination.  

In 2019, Jacob deGrom opened the season by extending the record to 30 straight starts allowing three runs or less.

National League Cy Young Award

• 1969: Tom Seaver
• 1973: Tom Seaver
• 1975: Tom Seaver
• 1985: Dwight Gooden
• 2012: R.A. Dickey
• 2018: JACOB deGROM
• 2019: JACOB deGROM

PITCHERS TO WIN CONSECUTIVE CY YOUNG AWARDS: Sandy Koufax; Denny McLain; Jim Palmer; Greg Maddux; Roger Clemens; Pedro Martinez; Randy Johnson; Tim Lincecum; Clayton Kershaw; Max Scherzer. 

In only his sixth season in the major leagues Jacob deGrom adds his name to the list becoming just the eleventh pitcher in major league history to win back-to-back Cy Young awards.

Jacob deGrom joins Tom Seaver as the only Mets pitchers to win multiple awards.  In 2019 he won his first ERA title and led major league baseball in strikeouts.  He exceeds 200 strikeouts for the fourth time in his career and pitches at least seven innings in 19 of his 32 starts.  Over the course of his two Cy Young seasons, deGrom limits the opposition to just two runs or less in 51 of 64 starts and compiles 524 strikeouts. 

Last season, albeit compromised by COVID, he leads the National League for a second straight season in strikeouts while posting a career-best 13.8 K/9 average.  He also registers a career-low 6.2 H/9 average, while his 2.38 ERA is his second-lowest.  In fact, last year marked the third straight season he posted a BABIP below three, an ERA below 2.50, and a WHiP below one.  

Jacob deGrom turns 33-years old this coming June and is showing no signs of slowing down.  

Like any savvy veteran, he's been going about his craft a little differently.

• 2014 - fastball 61.5%; slider 16.5%; curveball 9.9%; change-up 12.1%.
• 2020 - fastball 44.9%; slider 35.6%; curveball 2.6%; change-up 16.9%.

Is he adjusting for age and lost velocity?

Hardly ...

Jacob deGrom's velocity is still on the rise, as has been throughout his career.  According to Fangraphs, he enters the league in 2014 with a 94.5mph fastball then effectively gains velocity in each of the next six seasons to close out 2020 with a career-high 99.0mph fastball - an increase of 1.8mph over 2019, a 2.2mph increase over his first Cy Young season, and a 4.5mph increase over his rookie season.  Last season batters were swinging at the most offerings in deGrom's career but making contact at an all-time low.

But just when we thought we had him figured out, now he's in the midst of bucking all sorts of trends.

Through four starts, he is averaging a career-high 98.8 mph fastball.  Moreover, he's offering it at a rate of 63.2%, a new career-high.  He's throwing his change-up at a career-low rate, use of his slider is down 9%, and he is yet to throw a curveball.

• 2021 - fastball 63.2%; slider 26.6%; curveball 0.0%; change-up 9.7%.

 

Entering Wednesday's start against the Red Sox, Jacob deGrom is averaging 7.1 innings per start.  He presently owns an MLB best 0.31 ERA through 29.0 innings pitched, with a career-low 4.9 H/9 average, and a career-high 15.5 K/9 average.  He has faced 101 batters so far, yielding just 13 hits and three walks, with a major league-leading 50 strikeouts.

Jacob has fanned no fewer than 14 batters in each of his last three starts, and of course, there was Friday's masterpiece: a complete game two-hit shutout with no walks and a career-high 15 strikeouts against the Washington Nationals.  He struck out nine in a row at one point, coming withing one more consecutive strikeout of tying Tom Seaver's major league record of ten consecutive batters recorded back in 1971 against the San Diego Padres.

I'm content to judge Jacob deGrom based against his contemporaries, just as I am with Tom Seaver against his own contemporaries.  But I refuse to compare and contrast one with the other.  I will say of all the great pitchers to ever don a Mets uniform, Jacob deGrom's craftmanship and skill most rivals Tom Terrific.

UPDATE: Wednesday vs. Boston Red Sox

• Jacob deGrom yields just one earned run on three hits and one walk with nine strikeouts over six innings pitched.  He throws 93 pitches with 66 (70.9%) going for strikes but leaves on the losing side of a 1-0 contest.

Of course, he does ...

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 4/28/1921: Yankees Salvage Finale Against Senators; Giants Swept at Ebbets Field

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 #12

BOXSCORE: Thursday, April 28, 1921 - BR

Washington Senators @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Motivated Yankees Salvage Series Finale Against Senators

Gharrity and Ruth Exchange Pleasantries and Almost Come to Blows

Jacob Ruppert Jr. is seldom heard from.  But he is said to have conveyed good wishes and regards to second-year owner Clark Griffith upon the Washington Senators' departure from New York.  Before Thursday's game, the Colonel is also believed to have slipped underneath the Yankee clubhouse door several poignant words of wisdom directed at the players.  Mr. Ruppert's partner Tillinghast Huston is a known detractor of Miller Huggins.  So, this was interpreted as a veiled threat at their fourth-year skipper.  The team responds by salvaging the series finale in front of a contented 15,000 fans.  

Despite an early flurry of activity, the Yankees come away with a 5-4 lead after two.  Shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh's error in the top of the first clears the way for three unearned Senators' runs, including  Sam Rice's steal of home.  Wally Pipp drives in Chick Fewster in the bottom half of the frame.  In the second, right fielder Clyde Milan's two-out double drives home catcher Patsy Gharrity with the Senators' fourth run.  But the Yankees storm back with four runs on five hits against Washington starter Tom Zachary.  Starter Bill Piercy helps himself with a run batted in, followed by a pair of runs driven in from Peckinpaugh and one other from Babe Ruth.

After which, starter Bill Piercy effectively settles into a rhythm, whereas Yankees batters continue offering Washington pitchers no quarter.  Peckinpaugh drives in a run in the fourth, and Bill Piercy drives in his second of the game in the fifth.  Washington generates a run on three hits in the eighth against Piercy but do for themselves no favors in the bottom half of the eighth when third baseman Howie Shanks fields Aaron Ward's grounder but throws wildly to first, allowing two more Yankee base runners to score.  Bill Piercy strikes out the first two batters faced in the ninth, then sets down Sam Rice to end the game.

Piercy gives his skipper little to fret, allowing just two earned runs on ten hits and two walks with four strikeouts in a complete-game effort.  He improves to 2-1 with a 1.73 ERA through his first three starts, and 26.0 innings pitched.  The victory snaps New York's five-game losing streak and elevates them back to par.  The Yankees now head north for their first season visit to Boston.

• FINAL: WAS 5; NYY 9
• RECORD: 6-6 (.500); fourth place, 3 GB of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #12

BOXSCORE: Thursday, April 28, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ BROOKLYN ROBINS

Ebbets Field

Brooklyn Robins Take Over Second Place at the Expense of Giants

Imported from Cincinnati, southpaw Dutch Reuther demonstrates to Uncle Robbie his worth.  Making his third start and second straight against the visiting New Yorkers,  Reuther limits the Giants to one run on seven hits and one walk with a pair of strikeouts for his second win of the season against one loss.  His counterpart, inexperienced right-hander Rosy Ryan yields two earned runs on just four hits and two walks through seven gamely innings, albeit in a hard-luck loss.  

It's the Giants who open the scoring in the second when High Pockets Kelly lashes a one-out triple to left field and scores on a fielder's choice.  The tide remains unchanged through the sixth.  Third baseman Jimmy Johnston then leads off the seventh with a triple to straightaway center and touches home on Tommy Griffith's ensuing hit to left.  With one out, big Ed Konetchy drives in Griffith for a 2-1 Robins lead and their final margin of victory.  That makes four straight for Brooklyn and a sweep of the New York Giants at Ebbets Field, where the 1920 National League pennant waves snappingly in the stiff April breeze.  Brooklyn leapfrogs into second place, two full games ahead of the Giants and 1.5 games behind the Pirates.

Yankees partner Tillinghast Huston years back wanted Wilbert Robinson as manager of the Yankees, not Huggins.  Robinson, John McGraw's former confidante, has since guided the Brooks to a pair of National League pennants.  The Giants return to the Polo Grounds tomorrow, where they'll host the Boston Braves.

• FINAL: NYG 1; BKN 2
• RECORD: 6-6 (.500); fourth place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh

Brooklyn Nets: Flatbush Punches Ticket to Playoffs

From the desk: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

TUESDAY

Nets    118

Raptors 103

FINAL

Step One: Flatbush Clinches Spot in Post-Season Tourney

Sure, the Raptors have their issues, but they're the only Eastern Conference team outside the top six with a positive point differential.  But when you have eight more possessions and only shoot 39.6% from the field against the Nets, odds are you're gonna lose.  All other things being relatively equal, Flatbush was only somewhat more accurate than the Florida Raptors, which still amazingly manifests in a 13 point win.

James Harden is still out, and DeAndre Jordan was a Coach's Decision.  Otherwise, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Blake Griffin were present and accounted for.  However, this night, the supporting cast put the team on their backs and effectively carried them.  Coach Nash stuck with a tight eight-man rotation.  No player received fewer than 20 minutes.

Tyler Johnson scored ten points with three assists and three rebounds in a bench-high 27 minutes.  Playing in only his third game with Brooklyn, Mike James distributed a game-high eight assists with ten points in 21 minutes, and Blake Griffin scored a bench-high 17 points with six rebounds and two steals in 22 minutes.

While Florida's Kyle Lowry led the floor with 24 points in 37 minutes, Jeff Green led the Nets starters with 22 points and eight rebounds in 37 minutes.  Good to see Joe Harris taking the team's second-most attempts.  Harris stepped it up with 16 points and was second to Mike James with six assists, and Landry Shamet added 14 points with a plus-12 for the game.

Kevin Durant made limited attempts, shooting just 5/7 from the field, including 3/4 from three and 4/4 from the line for 17 points in 33 minutes.  Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving was a dismal 3/13 from the field, including just 1/5 from behind the arc as part of a nine-point night with four assists in 39 minutes.

N.Y. Knicks: Chris Paul's Hail Mary Finds Net

From the desk: KICKING CANS DOWN 33RD STREET WITH JIMMY

Chris Paul's Monday Night Miracle

Ends Knicks Winning Streak at Nine

Suns   118

Knicks 110

FINAL

As Julius Randle Goes, So Go The Knicks

There was a point in the first quarter when the Knicks led by ten.  Four minutes left in the second, they led by 13 points and took a seven-point lead into the half.  Their largest lead of the game was 15 points.  But next thing you know, the Phoenix Suns jump ahead 84-83 with 1:30 left in the third.  With 3:30 left in the fourth quarter, a big defensive play by Derrick Rose kept the Knicks deficit to a manageable four points.  But with the shot clock winding down, Chris Paul's miracle shot from the great beyond pushed the dagger into the Knicks side.  Paul's desperation three made it a 115-110 game with a minute left.  The Knicks would lose by eight; the consecutive winning streak comes to a halt at nine.

Phoenix had three scorers with 20 points or better led by Devin Booker's game-high 33 points in 41 minutes.  Chris Paul was huge down the stretch and finished with 20 points and six assists in 34 minutes.

Julius Randle was off, and as he goes so go the Knicks.  He was 6/17 from the field and 3/4 from the line for 18 points.  Reggie Bullock and RJ Barrett contributed 17 points apiece.  Derrick Rose led the Knicks with 22 points and tied for game-high with six assists but posted an uncharacteristic minus-14 in 33 minutes off the bench.

The loss knots the Bockers in a fourth-place conference tie with the Atlanta Hawks.  Sixth place Boston trails both teams by 1.5 games.

Let the countdown begin as only ten games remain in the regular season, more than half of which will be on the road.  After hosting Chicago on Wednesday, the Knicks embark on a six-game trip through the West before returning to close out the season's final three games at home.

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 4/27/1921: Washington Takes Fourth Straight From Yankees; Giants Drop Third Straight at Ebbets Field

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 #11

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, April 27, 1921 - BR

Washington Senators @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Washington Senators Take Over First Place at Yankees Expense

Back-to-back twenty-game winner and last season's ERA champ, Bob Shawkey, makes his season debut and is opposed by the familiar Senators right-hander Jim Shaw.  

Washington scores right away when leadoff hitter Joe Judge singles, advances, and scores on left fielder Duffy Lewis' grounder to second.  But Shaw likewise hurls himself into first-inning trouble upon yielding a one-out single to Roger Peckinpaugh, then issuing consecutive bases on balls to Babe Ruth and Wally Pipp.  Bob Meusel's sacrifice flyball to center field scores Peckinpaugh, and an error by second baseman Bucky Harris on the relay permits Ruth to score the go-ahead run.  Later with two outs in the third and Babe Ruth stationed at third, Bob Meusel's single to right field gives the Yankees a 3-1 lead.  

Having shaken off that first inning rust, Bob Shawkey continues turning away Washington batters, that is until he issues the dreaded base on balls to Sam Rice leading off the eighth - for experience tells us over, and again the odds of that base runner scoring are quite good.  Sure enough, Duffy Lewis reaches safely on a fielder's choice when Chick Fewster mishandles the throw from third baseman Aaron Ward, and with one out, third baseman Howie Shanks triples home both base runners tying the game at three.

Pitching his second inning in relief of Jim Shaw, George Mogridge initiates an inning-ending 1-4-3 double play to end the Yankees eighth.  With one out in the top of the ninth, Joe Judge singles up the middle, and Bob Shawkey walks right fielder Clyde Milan.  Then just as he had done in the previous game, Miller Huggins, in an obvious temp of fate, summons from the bullpen another right-hander to again face the lefty-swinging Sam Rice.  In relief of Shawkey, Carl Mays this time induces a groundball to first, and the runners advance.  But Hug's vindication is short-lived when with two outs, some 15,000 dejected onlookers witness Carl Mays surrender a bases-emptying double to left field off the bat of Duffy Lewis.  Afterwhich, George Mogridge closes out the game with a third scoreless inning in relief of Shaw to earn his first win this season.  Bob Shawkey is tagged with his first loss.

The Senators take their fourth straight from the Yankees, the first back at Griffith Stadium, and now three straight here at the Polo Grounds with one game still left to play.  As a result of today's outcome, Washington moves into first place, one half-game ahead of Cleveland.  Locally, it marks the Yankees' fifth straight loss and their sixth of the season, dropping them one game under .500 with a 5-6 record.

• FINAL: WAS 5; NYY 3
• RECORD: 5-6 (.455); fourth place, 3.5 GB of Washington

⚾

GAME #11

BOXSCORE: Wednesday, April 27, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ BROOKLYN DODGERS

Ebbets Field

Giants Drop Third Straight at Ebbets Field

You'd never know it by simply observing John McGraw.  Looking on as Brooklyn plates both the tying and winning runs in the ninth, he remains stone-faced throughout.  However, anyone within close proximity could always sense Little Napoleon's loath towards perceived turncoat Wilbert Robinson.  Uncle Robbie knows this well.  After all, the feeling is mutual, and on Wednesday, he provides his once dear friend a third consecutive reminder where the defending National League champions are to be found.  

Making his third start, Jesse Barnes is opposed by Brooklyn's quietly effective southpaw Clarence Mitchell who gets staked to a 1-0 lead in the first on Zack Wheat's two-out hit scoring Jimmy Johnston from third.  The score remains unchanged through the fifth.  But High Pocket Kelly's Bedford Avenue-bound two-run home run in the sixth, along with Frankie Frisch's single plating George Burns in the seventh, gives Jesse Barnes and the Giants a 3-1 lead.  With two out in the bottom half of the frame and a pair of runners in scoring position, Clarence Mitchell helps his own cause with a single to center field, scoring both Hi Myers and Pete Kilduff, tying the game at three.  

When center fielder Eddie Brown opens the eighth with a single and third baseman Goldie Rapp follows with a double, manager Robinson replaces Mitchell with Al Mamaux, who immediately unleashes a wild pitch permitting Brown to score the go-ahead run.  Mamaux retires the Giants in order in the top half of the ninth.  Still facing Jesse Barnes, Robins' second baseman Pete Kilduff leads off with a single, advances, and scores on Bernie Neis's base hit to left.  After advancing to second, Neis scores on Jimmy Johnston's two-out game-winning hit to left field.  

Al Mamaux earns the win in relief, improving his record to 3-0 with a 1.50 earned run average.  Brooklyn's third baseman Jimmy Johnston finishes 3 for 4 with a double and a run batted in.  Jesse Barnes falls to 1-1 with a 1.88 ERA after allowing five earned runs on twelve hits through 8.2 innings pitched.  Third baseman Goldie Rapp goes 3 for 4 with two doubles.

• FINAL: NYG 4; BKN 5
• RECORD: 6-5 (.545); fourth place, 3 GB of Pittsburgh

Brooklyn Nets: Blocking Out The Suns

From the desk: THE HOOPS OF FLATBUSH

Nets defeat Suns; 2-0

I - BKN 128; PHX 124

II - BKN 128; PHX 119

Another Great Performance by Kevin Durant, But Was Keeping Him In That Late Necessary?

No team has any business taking the Phoenix Suns lightly.  Despite Sunday's loss at Flatbush, Chris Paul and the Suns still remain tied for second place in the Western Conference standings.  

At one point in this game, the Suns lead Brooklyn by 13 points but only take a two-point advantage into the half.  As is their habit, the Nets pour it on during the final 24 minutes, outscoring Phoenix in the second half by a 69-58 spread en route to a nine-point margin of victory.

The Nets open the fourth quarter staked to a seven-point lead.  With 8:36 left, Blake Griffin ups the lead to twelve.  Kevin Durant's two free throws at 7:50 further extend the lead to 14 points.  Then at 7:25, Durant stakes Flatbush to a game-high 16 point lead.  By 5:28, Blake Griffin still keeps the Nets up by 13 points.  But Joe Harris steps in to give the Nets a 15 point lead with 4:39 left to go.

By this point, I'm wondering why Kevin Durant is still on the floor.  In fact, he plays right through the final buzzer.  I'm not saying you send in the B-Squad when up by 15 points with less than five minutes to go, but the question remains ...

The Nets were still leading by 16 points with less than 2:30 left to go.  Did KD really need to be on the floor, say, in the final three and two minutes?

With Durant on the floor, from the five through one-minute marks, the Suns outscored the Nets 10-7 in four minutes, during which Durant accounted for two points.  But Phoenix was still trailing by nine with just a minute left.  At the 0:31 mark, Durant scores on a drive through the lane, and one.

Durant finished 12/21 from the field and 7/8 from the line for 33 points in 28 questionably managed minutes off the bench.  

Kyrie Irving was 10/19 from the field, including 5/7 from behind the arc and a perfect 9/9 from the line for a team-high 34 points and a game-high twelve assists in 35 minutes.  DeAndre Jordan secured a team-high twelve rebounds with six points in 21 minutes.  Jeff Green and Joe Harris quietly score ten points each.  Blake Griffin is somewhat louder with 16 points in 27 minutes off the bench.

Brooklyn owns the top spot in the Eastern Conference by 1.5 games over the idle Philadelphia Sixers.  They're the first Eastern Conference team to reach 40 victories, and their 25 home wins are most in the conference and second-most in the NBA behind the Utah Jazz.  They also own the second-highest point differential in the conference behind the Milwaukee Bucks.

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 4/26/1921: Miller Huggins Decisions Under Scrutiny Following Loss To Senators; Southpaw Sherry Smith Confounds Giants At Ebbets

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 #10

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, April 26, 1921 - BR

Washington Senators @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Washington Senators Win Third Straight at Polo Grounds

All 15,000 sets of eyes were fixed on Miller Huggins over some curious decision-making.  

Babe Ruth's first-inning sacrifice fly to right field scores Chick Fewster, and with two outs in the second, catcher Wally Schang's two-out home run gives starter Jack Quinn and the Yankees a 2-0 lead.  Washington recovers a run in the top of the third inning on first baseman Joe Judge's run-scoring base hit to right field.  But the Yankees respond with haste as Ruth lashes a one-out double to right field, scoring Roger Peckinpaugh, and advances to third on a misplay in the outfield by Clyde Milan.  Wally Pipp promptly follows with a sacrifice flyball to center field, scoring Ruth for a three-run advantage.  

Washington starter Al Schacht is dispatched to the showers after allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits over three innings pitched.  

Clyde Milan reaches safely, leading off the fifth when Chick Fewster mishandles his grounder to second.  Jack Quinn then yields a hit by center fielder Sam Rice.  That's when Miller Huggins emerges from the dugout in the retrieval of his starter.  When play resumes, second-year right-hander Rip Collins fields Duffy Lewis's bunt attempt, and the runners successfully advance.  After issuing a base on balls to second baseman Bucky Harris, Collins induces third baseman Howie Shanks into a textbook inning-ending 6-4-3 double-play.  

However, Miller Huggins' maneuverings backfire in the sixth.  Facing Rip Collins with two outs and a pair of runners in scoring position, right fielder Clyde Milan - there's that name again - empties the bases with a single to left field cutting Washington's deficit to one.  But manager Miller Huggins stays put, leaving the right-handed Collins in the game to face lefty-swinging Sam Rice.  Known more for his speed on the basepaths than for his power at the plate, Rice delivers the decisive hit with a long home run to right.  Out of the dugout again emerges Huggins, obviously too late, and into the game enters the Brooklynite, Waite Hoyt.

Pitching in relief of Al Schacht, Cuban-born José Acosta throws six scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and two walks with a strikeout en route to his first win of the season and only the sixth victory of his brief career.  The second-place Senators have now taken three straight at the Polo Grounds while the Yankees themselves are losers of four in a row.  Moreover, for Miller Huggins, the second-guessing begins.

• FINAL: WAS 5; NYY 4
• RECORD: 5-5 (.500); third place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #10

BOXSCORE: Tuesday, April 26, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ BROOKLYN ROBINS

Ebbets Field

Costly Error Underscores Giants Second Straight Loss at Ebbets Field

Foiled again!  Misplays in the field continue plaguing the Giants.  This time misfortune strikes in the third.  George Burns' mishandling of Tommy Griffith's fly to left allows shortstop Ivy Olson and third baseman Jimmy Johnston to score all the way from first and second base, respectively, for a 2-0 Robins lead.  Brooklyn starter pitcher Sherry Smith makes it stand.  Making his third start, the veteran southpaw improves to 2-0 upon yielding just one run on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts over nine innings full.  New York loads the bases with one out in the fifth, only to muster a Frankie Frisch comebacker to Smith for a run-scoring fielder's choice.  Otherwise, Sherry finishes strong, retiring nine of his next ten batters and 13 of his final 16 batters faced.  For good measure, Robins right fielder Tommy Griffith homers off Giants starter Fred Toney leading off the eighth, giving Brooklyn a  3-1 final margin of victory and a second straight home win against the rival Manhattanites.  After earning the win for a two-inning relief appearance in the season opener at Philadelphia, the Giants have since lost in each of Fred Toney's first three starting assignments.  Last year's 21-game winner falls to 1-2 with a modestly uncharacteristic 3.00 ERA through 24.0 innings pitched.  Fred was the lone Giants to cross home plate against his counterpart Sherry Smith for what it's worth.  If nothing else, at least ruin the shutout ...

• FINAL: NYG 1; BKN 3
• RECORD: 6-4 (.600); t-third place, 2.0 GB of Pittsburgh