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!
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GAME #14
POLO GROUNDS
Fred Toney Returns to Last Season's Form
After the Braves stranded three base runners in the first, Boston starting pitcher Hugh McQuillan in the next inning takes matters into his own hands, lashing a two-out double and scoring the game's first run on center fielder Ray Powell's base hit to right field. However, Fred Toney matches McQuillan at the plate and outclasses him on the hill. McQuillan is gone by the sixth, whereas Toney completes what he begins.
In similar fashion to yesterday's contest, the Giants' lineup storms ahead with a flurry of late-inning runs. With one out in the home fourth, center fielder Curt Walker's home run ties the game, and with two outs, catcher Earl Smith homers to deep right field, giving the Giants a lead they would not relinquish. Fred Toney comes to his own aid in the sixth with a hit and two runs batted in. In the seventh, second baseman Lloyd Christenbury singles home Boston's second and final run of the game. Afterwhich, left fielder George Burns in the eighth adds the finishing touches with a hit-scoring third baseman Goldie Rapp and Earl Smith. George Burns finishes 2 for 4 and leads the Giants with three runs batted in, en route to a five-run margin of victory.
But it's Fred Toney beginning with the last out in the second who captures the spotlight by retiring 13 of the next 14 batters, interrupted only in the third when he plunks left fielder Walton Cruise with a pitch. Otherwise, coming off two straight losing performances, Fred Toney allows two runs, one earned, eight hits, and just one walk through nine full innings. He improves to 2-2 with a decreased 2.45 ERA through 24 innings pitched to date. Upon retiring Billy Southworth for the final out of the game, Fred Toney's effort is met with a roar of appreciation and a standing ovation by some 12,000 strong.
- FINAL: BOS 2; NYG 7
- RECORD: 8-6 (.571); third place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh.
OFF DAY
Sunday, May 1, 1921
Fenway Park
It seems somewhat ponderous the respective owners elect to not play on this day despite having to make up back-to-back postponements. In town since Thursday night, the Yankees and Red Sox have yet to step onto the field at Fenway Park. At long last, they're scheduled for Monday afternoon. But that's no consolation to Babe Ruth, who hoped to spend time commiserating with old friends. However, a three-day layoff should prove quite beneficial insofar as Ruth's recovery from a sprained wrist incurred during the previous series versus the Washington Senators.
NEXT GAME
Monday, May 2, 1921
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