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!
GAME #25
POLO GROUNDS
38,000 Uproarious Fans Celebrate Ninth Inning Comeback Against The Familiar Rube Marquard
New York City gets their first look at old friend Rube Marquard in a Cincinnati uniform. A former 20-game winner with the Giants and member of last season's National League champion Brooklyn Robins, the 34-year old Marquard toes the slab at the Polo Grounds and is opposed by Art Nehf. High Pockets Kelly drives in the first run of the game in the opening frame, and in the third, Ross Youngs makes it a two-run Giants' lead. But with one out and the bases loaded in the fifth, Rube Marquard himself singles home two runs. Afterwhich, third baseman Sam Bohne singles home catcher Bubble Hargrave giving the Reds and Marquard a 3-2 lead. Art Nehf gets through the seventh without further damage. Mister McGraw summons Pol Perritt from the bullpen, and the score remains unchanged through the eighth. With Marquard still twirling in the ninth, Frank Snyder doubles to left, and pinch-hitter Alex Gaston singles putting two runners in scoring position. Reds manager Pat Moran makes no move, and George Burns makes him pay dearly with a single to left scoring pinch-runner John Monroe for the tying run. Dave Bancroft then steps into the box and, with another sharply hit single to left, delivers home the winning run, and the packed house of 38,000 go wild! Making his first appearance of the season, Pol Perritt yields no runs and just one hit over the game's final two innings for the win. George Kelly now leads the major leagues with 34 runs batted in. The Giants are now winners of five in a row and eleven of their last 13 games.
- FINAL: CIN 3; NYG 4
- RECORD: 17-8 (.680); second place, 2.5 GB of Pittsburgh
The contentious tenant/landlord relationship
between the Yankees and Giants takes
a huge step forward towards resolution.
GAME #23
Dunn Field
Yankees Catch Indians; Teams Tied For First Place
A robust Sunday crowd of just under 40,000 at Dunn Field watches in dismay as the Yankees, minus any hits off the bat of Babe Ruth, knock veteran Stan Coveleski from the box after just three innings pitched. The Indians starter yields five runs (four earned), seven hits, and one walk with three strikeouts before heading off to the showers. For good measure, New York strikes for three more runs in the fifth. All told, the Yankees unleash a 13-hit attack that garners eight runs. Meanwhile, the Brooklynite Waite Hoyt limits the defending World Champions to a pair of runs on nine hits and four walks through nine complete innings. Hoyt evens his record at 2-2 with a 2.88 earned run average. Center fielder Braggo Roth, Roger Peckinpaugh, and Bob Meusel record three hits each and join together for five runs batted in. Home Run Baker goes 2 for 5 with a double and one run batted in. The Yankees extended their winning streak to four and improve to 5-1 on this road trip. Moreover, the Yankees and Indians are now tied for first place.
- FINAL: NYY 8; CLE 2
- RECORD: 14-9 (.609); t-first place with Cleveland
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