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 #27
POLO GROUNDS
Jesse Barnes Pitches Eleven to Complete Sweep Over Reds
The usual allotment of putouts proved unsatisfactory in settling Tuesday's affair at the Polo Grounds. The host Giants and visiting Reds needed more. Making only his second start in nine appearances, Cincinnati's unfamiliar Buddy Napier toes the slab in opposition of Jesse Barnes. The two duel to a three-all tie. Ross Youngs triples home Frankie Frisch in the first, and Curt Walker triples and scores in the second. Cincinnati strings together three consecutive singles in the bottom of the frame, and with the bases loaded, third baseman Sam Bohne scores on Pat Duncan's sacrifice fly. Center fielder Edd Roush later drives home the tying run in the fifth. After trading runs in the sixth and into extra innings, they go. With one out in the top of the eleventh, Jesse Barnes walks his counterpart, Buddy Napier. Barnes then induces Sam Bohne into a 6-4-3 double-play. Leading off the bottom half of the frame, center fielder Curt Walker homers to deep left field against Napier ending the game. The Giants sweep the Reds in four and extend their consecutive game-winning streak to seven.
- FINAL: CIN 3; NYG 4
- RECORD: 19-8 (.704); second place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh
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GAME #25
Dunn Field
Miller Huggins Leers at Ruth During Loss to Indians
Despite Babe Ruth's leadoff ninth-inning home run, the defending champions hold on to salvage the series finale against the Yankees. The young right-hander George Uhle limits the Yankees to a pair of runs on nine hits and three walks with four strikeouts for the victory. Uhle also helps his cause with a single, and a run batted in during a two-run seventh. Making only his first start in four appearances, Alex Ferguson yields four runs on seven hits and three walks in a seven-inning losing effort. For Babe Ruth, it marks home run number twelve of the season. However, that seemingly mattered little to Miller Huggins, who was clearly perturbed with Ruth getting picked off second base in the sixth, then committing a costly error in left field during the pivotal seventh inning. Thus, the Indians snap New York's five-game winning streak and regain a half-share of first place.
- FINAL: NYY 2; CLE 4
- RECORD: 15-10 (.600); t-first place with Cleveland
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