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 CALLED: Rain
Monday, May 23, 1921
POLO GROUNDS
GAME #31
Sportsman's Park
Another Late Inning Rally Secures Second Straight Victory at Sportsman's Park
In yet another tightly contested affair, the Yankees and Browns see-saw to a four-all tie through six. Waite Hoyt for the Yankees and Dixie Davis for St. Louis hold the line through the eighth. Center fielder Baby Doll Jacobson drives home the game's first run back in the second. In the third, Roger Peckinpaugh doubles and scores when Babe Ruth reaches safely on a misplay by shortstop Wally Berger. Bob Meusel soon drives home Ruth for a 2-1 Yankees lead. St. Louis quickly ties the game in the bottom half of the fourth on Ken Williams' inside the park home run. The Browns then take the lead on George Sisler's two-run home run in the fifth. But the Yankees knot the game again in the sixth on runs scored by Babe Ruth and Wally Pipp. In the top of the ninth, Dixie Davis walks Wally Schang, then with two outs walks Roger Peckinpaugh. He then decides to walk Babe Ruth and thereby load the bases. Wally Pipp makes Walker pay dearly with a two-run single to right. Waite Hoyt throws a scoreless bottom half of the ninth to close out the victory. He improves to 4-2 with a 2.91 ERA. The Yankees will be without third baseman Home Run Baker who injured his leg during Sunday's contest. Babe Ruth is now 2 for 20 in his last five games.
- FINAL: NYY 6; STL 4
- RECORD: 19-12 (.613), second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland
No comments:
Post a Comment
Say what you feel. The worse comment you can make is the one you do not make.