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.
- Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE
Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!
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GAME #24
POLO GROUNDS
Rube Benton Shuts Out Former Team; Giants Move Into Second Place
Making only his second start of the season, veteran Rube Benton twirls a gem against his former team as 22,000 fans at the Polo Grounds luxuriate in delight. Acquired by Mister McGraw back during the 1915 season, Benton yields no runs, eight hits, and two walks in a complete-game shutout effort. The Giants scored three times in the first inning and never look back. Frankie Frisch triples home George Burns and Dave Bancroft, then scores on Ross Youngs' hit up the middle. Benton provides himself some insurance with a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the fifth. Ross Youngs then caps off the scoring with a sacrifice fly scoring Frisch in the eighth. Cincinnati's Dolf Luque takes the loss. Frankie Frisch leads the charge with three hits in four at-bats with two RBI and two runs scored. The Giants are now winners of four in a row and ten of their last twelve games. With Brooklyn's loss against St. Louis, the Giants overtake second place.
- FINAL: CIN 0; NYG 5
- RECORD: 16-8 (.667); second place, 3.0 GB of Pittsburgh
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GAME #22
Dunn Field
Babe Ruth's Eleventh Home Run Lifts Yankees To Series Opening Victory Over Defending Champions
The Yankees seize the opener of a four-game set against the first place and defending World Series champion Indians. Trailing 4-2 after seven, the Yankees turn the tables on Cleveland in the eighth when Indians starter Jim Bigby hits lead-off batter Braggo Roth with a pitch and Roger Peckinpaugh's single puts runners on the corners. Up comes Babe Ruth who then wallops a home run into the furthest seating rows in straightaway center field. All center fielder Tris Speaker can do is look skyward in admiration and wave goodbye to the ball (that would surely have reached the bleachers at the Polo Grounds). With the Yankees now staked to a 5-4 lead, Wally Pipp makes it back-to-back home runs and a 6-4 final margin of victory for the visiting Yankees. Making his sixth appearance of the season, Jack Quinn yields four runs on eleven hits and two walks over nine complete innings pitched for his second victory this season. For Ruth, his major league-leading eleventh home run of the season. The Sultan of Swat is a full two weeks ahead of last season's home run pace. Ruth last season didn't hit his eleventh home run until May 29 against Boston. The Yankees move into second place ahead of Washington.
- FINAL: NYY 6; CLE 4
- RECORD: 13-9 (.591); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland
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