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 #29
POLO GROUNDS
Cubs Stay Step Ahead of Giants
After two exhilarating victories, the Giants seemingly lack requisite vigor and thus lag behind Chicago, who even the series at one. Making only his third appearance of the season, Virgil Cheeves surrenders two runs on two hits and four walks in 2.1 innings work. With one out in the third, Cheeves loads the bases. Manager Johnny Evers brings in Lefty York, who unleashes a wild pitch permitting George Burns to score from third. However, York would continue on through the ninth, striking out four in a row at one point. High Pockets Kelly drives home a run in the eighth, but the Giants score no more. Lefty York is charged with one run on three hits and five walks with eight strikeouts over the final 6.2 innings for the victory. The Giants managed just five hits, two each by George Kelly and George Burns, and one by Dave Bancroft. Art Nehf takes the loss. He allows five runs, but only two are earned, with three walks and three strikeouts through seven innings. Nehf also commits one of three Giants errors. As a consequence of Thursday's effort, New York's consecutive game-winning streak ends at eight.
- FINAL: CHI 5; NYG 3
- RECORD: 20-9 (.690); second place, 2.5 GB of Pittsburgh
National League Considering Rosin Bag For Pitchers
GAME #27
Comisky Park
Fifth Inning Outbreak Dooms White Sox
Chicago surely possesses the wherewithal to overcome a four-run deficit. They demonstrate that in the bottom half of the fifth inning. What happens in the top half of the frame is another matter entirely. Already nursing a four-run lead, the Yankees erupt for seven runs en route to an 11-4 trouncing of the White Sox. Wally Pipp's two-run triple and Bob Meusel's double in the first inning gave the New Yorkers a prompt 3-0 lead. Aaron Ward's sacrifice fly scores Meusel in the fourth. After Braggo Roth homers leading off the fifth, the roof caves in on Chicago. The Yankees batter three White Sox pitchers for another five hits and six runs. Wally Pipp, Home Run Baker, and Wally Schang all drive in runs. Starter Waite Hoyt also helps his cause with a run batted in. On the mound, the Brooklynite limits Chicago to three earned runs on seven hits and no walks with three strikeouts for his third victory of the season with a 2.90 ERA. White Sox catcher Ray Schalk drives home two runs. Babe Ruth finishes the game 1 for 3 and is now 1 for 8 for the series. Drawing the ire of Miller Huggins since the series finale at Cleveland, one must only look at the standings for the reason why.
- FINAL: NYY 11; CHI 4
- RECORD: 16-11 (.593); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland
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