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!
GAME #32
POLO GROUNDS
Pirates Seize Opener With Six-Run Ninth
The much-anticipated showdown against the circuit leading Pirates begins. Before a capacity crowd of 40,000 at the Polo Grounds, Frankie Frisch doubles home George Burns in the first. Pittsburgh veteran Wilber Cooper and Jesse Barnes then trade zeroes through the sixth. Frank Snyder doubles home High Pockets Kelly in the seventh, giving the Giants a 2-0 lead. Pirates' right fielder Possum Whitted connects for a two-run home run off Barnes in the top of the eighth. After yielding a third straight hit, Mister McGraw relieves Barnes with Slim Salle. At the plate, George Burns answers with a home run leading off the bottom of the frame. However, the Pirates seize the day with six runs in the top half of the ninth. Center fielder Max Carey spearheads the charge with a two-run home run. Second baseman George Cutshaw knocks Salle out of the box with a run-scoring double. Pittsburgh scores three more times against Fred Toney. Aaron Ward hits a three-run home run in the home ninth to no avail. New York falls 4.5 games behind the first-place Pirates. Slim Salle takes the loss. Wilbur Cooper improves to 7-0 with a 2.53 ERA.
- FINAL: PITT 8; NYG 6
- RECORD: 21-11 (.656), second place, 4.5 GB of Pittsburgh
GAME #30
Sportsman's Park
Carl Mays Lifts Yankees With Arm and Bat
On a "blazing 90-degree" Sunday at St. Louis, Missouri, the Yankees outlast Urban Shocker and the Browns. Nine innings proved incapable of declaring a victor in this tightly contested affair. Aaron Ward scores on Johnny Mitchell's sacrifice fly in the second. In the fifth, Wally Schang singles and scores on Bob Schawkey's double. The Browns manufacture two runs in the bottom of the frame. With two on and two outs in the top of the seventh, Bob Meusel homers over the left field fence for a 5-2 lead. But it does not last. A leadoff single by George Sisler and triples by Hank Severeid, and third baseman Earl Smith knock Yankees starter Bob Shawkey out of the box. With Carl Mays in the game, a sacrifice fly scores Smith from third, tying the game at five. The score remains unchanged through the ninth. In the top of the tenth, Aaron Ward hits a one-out triple, and Carl Mays comes to his own rescue with a run-scoring hit to left field with two outs. Mays then retires the Browns in order in the home tenth. Shawkey escapes with a no-decision. Carl Mays improves to 7-3 with a 1.60 ERA. For Bob Meusel, his fifth home run. Babe Ruth is 2 for 18 over his last four games.
- FINAL: NYY 6; STL 5 (10 innings)
- RECORD: 18-12 (.600), second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland
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