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Wednesday, May 12, 2021

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 5/12/1921: Kelly's Grand Slam Powers Giants; Yankees Win Slugfest at Navin 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 still harbored much animosity two full decades later, not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees.  As they 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.  However, it was an accomplishment for which John McGraw had little appreciation.  He 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 before the start of 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.  
Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!


GAME #22
POLO GROUNDS

George Kelly Powers Giants Over Cardinals; Slim Salle Finishes What Jesse Barnes Starts

The Giants stake Jesse Barnes to a four-run lead on High Pockets Kelly's grand slam home run in the first.  But St. Louis left fielder Autin McHenry homers in the fourth, and with the bases loaded, center fielder Heinie Mueller singles home two runs reducing the Cardinals deficit to one.  At once, Mister McGraw makes his way to the mound, and into the game comes Slim Salle, who ends the Cardinals' threat.  Catcher Frank Snyder provides the Giants some insurance with a two-run triple in the sixth, and Dave Bancroft scores in the seventh when Ross Youngs bounces into a fielder's choice.  St. Louis scores two unearned runs in the ninth to no avail.  Salle earns the victory evening his record to 1-1 with an unsightly 4.25 earned run average.  With eight home runs to date, George Kelly is two behind the major league leader, Babe Ruth.  The Giants failed to gain ground on the second-place Brooklyn Robins, who defeated the Reds a third straight day at Ebbets Field.
  • FINAL: STL 5; NYG 7
  • RECORD: 14-8 (.636); third place; 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh



GAME #20
Navin Field

Babe Ruth Has First and Final Say; Yanks Climb Back Into Third

With Roger Peckingpaugh on base, Babe Ruth's first-inning home run into the left-field bleachers (#) gives New York a prompt 2-0 lead.  But it does not last.  In the bottom half of the frame, Detroit's three-run rally overtakes the visitors.  Or so they thought.  New York strikes back with three runs in the third and two more in the fourth.  The Tigers answered with single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings.  But the Yankees regain separation with two more runs in the top of the sixth for a 9-5 lead. Facing Rip Collins pitching in relief of starter Tom Sheehan, Detroit erupts for five runs in the bottom half of the frame to seize a 10-9 lead.  

Miller Huggins hands the ball to Jack Quinn, who twirls a scoreless seventh, and Alex Ferguson follows with a scoreless eighth.  Facing Detroit's Dutch Leonard with two runners on base in the top of the ninth, Babe Ruth triples, giving the Yankees an 11-10 lead.  Carl Mays then retires the Tigers to end the game.  Ferguson earns the win.  Braggo Roth goes 3 for 5 with a home run and three runs batted in.  Roger Peckinpaugh is 3 for 4 with a double, three runs scored, and four runs batted in.  Listed among Babe Ruth's three hits, his major league-leading tenth home run.  New York moves up into third place, one-half game ahead of Boston and one-half game behind Washington.  Detroit right fielder Harry Heilmann finishes 2 for 4 with a triple and two runs batted in.  Center fielder Ty Cobb is held to one hit in four plate appearances.
  • FINAL: NYY 11; DET 10
  • RECORD: 11-9 (.550); third place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland
  • # Brooklyn Daily Eagle, May 13, 1921, p25, c3



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