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 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 #31
POLO GROUNDS
Chicago Cubs Salvage Series Split
The Cubs jump out to a 3-0 lead with a run in the first and two in the second. Starter Lefty Tyler makes it stand, allowing two runs on ten hits and two walks through nine innings pitched. Meanwhile, the Cubs knock starter Rosy Ryan out of the box with haste. With one out in the second, Mister McGraw summons Phil Douglas from the pen. He and Pol Perritt pitch the final 7.2 innings, allowing two runs (by Douglas) on nine hits and no walks. George Burns drives home the Giants' first run in the seventh, and Lefty Tyler unleashes a wild pitch in the eighth, allowing Dave Bancroft to score from third. In the ninth, Frank Snyder bounces into a game-ending 5-4-3 double-play. Chicago salvages a split of the four-game series. Making his third appearance, veteran Lefty Tyler improves to 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA.
- FINAL: CHI 5; NYG 2
- RECORD: 21-10 (.677); second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh
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GAME #29
Comisky Park
Yankees Earn Series Split With White Sox
The Yankees get their scoring done early. Roger Peckinpaugh homers in the first, and Bob Meusel drives home, Babe Ruth. New York scores four more times in the third. White Sox starter Doug McWeeny is partly to blame for his fielding error resulting in three unearned runs. Manager Kid Gleason relieves McWeeny with Roy Wilkinson, who yields one run on eight hits over the final 6.1 innings. Aaron Ward singled home Wally Pipp in the eighth. Right fielder Harry Hooper triples home Eddie Collins and scores on left fielder Bibb Falk's two-out double. Bibb Falk drives home two more runs in the ninth to no avail. Starter Alex Ferguson surrenders four runs on seven hits and one walk to earn his second victory against one loss with a still troublesome 4.57 ERA. The New Yorkers nevertheless gain a series split. Onward to St. Louis.
- FINAL: NYY 7; CHI 4
- RECORD: 17-12 (.586); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland
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