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 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 #20
POLO GROUNDS
Rogers Hornsby Sparks Winning Rally; Lifts Batting Average to .478
In a see-saw affair, the St. Louis Cardinals take the opening game of a four-game series at the Polo Grounds. Facing New York starter Art Nehf in the first inning, right fielder Joe Schultz homers to straightaway center field. Third baseman Milt Stock singles to right and advances to third on an error by Ross Youngs. Rogers Hornsby singles home Stock, and with two outs, left fielder Austin McHenry singles home Hornsby for a 3-0 Cardinals lead. But the Giants strike back. Making only his sixth major league start, Bill Pertica issues a lead-off walk to George Young, and with one out, Frankie Frisch singles putting runners on the corners. Right fielder Ross Youngs then connects for a home run tying the game at three.
St. Louis scores twice more in the third. After yielding a double to Shultz and walking Rogers Hornsby, first baseman Jack Fournier singles to right scoring Schultz, but another error by Ross Youngs allows the Rajah to score as well. Art Nehf pays the price; Mister McGraw brings in Slim Salle from the bullpen. McGraw's batsmen counter again in the bottom of the frame. High Pockets Kelly doubles home Frankie Frisch, then scores when Goldie Rapp is retired on a fielder's choice.
George Burns gives the Giants their first lead of the game in the fourth. But it does not last. Rogers Hornsby triples off Salle leading off the seventh and scores on Fournier's hit to left. Catcher Pickles Dillhoefer then delivers the go-ahead run from which the Giants do not recover.
Slim Salle takes the loss after yielding two runs on seven hits and one walk through 5.2 innings in relief of Nehf. Rogers Hornsby lifts his league-leading average to .478 with four hits in four at-bats. High Pockets Kelly finishes the day with a .377 average after two hits in five at-bats.
- FINAL: STL 7; NYG 6
- RECORD: 12-8 (.600); third place, 4.0 GB of Pittsburgh
GAME #18
Navin Field
Babe Hits Number Nine; Carl Mays Makes it Stand
The Yankees hold on for a road trip opening victory at Detroit. With Tigers rookie Jim Middleton toeing the rubber and Roger Peckinpaugh the runner at first, Babe Ruth homers to deep center field for a prompt 2-0 lead. Carl Mays makes it stand. Detroit mounts their only threat in the ninth when Donie Bush laces a lead-off triple to center field, and Ty Cobb delivers him home. But Mays escapes further damage for his fifth victory of the season against two losses with a 1.12 ERA. He allows one run on just five hits and two walks through nine. For left fielder Babe Ruth, his ninth home run with 20 runs batted in through 18 games played.
- FINAL: NYY 2; DET 1
- RECORD: 10-8 (.556); third place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland
Ty Cobb in 1909 led the American League with nine home runs.
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