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 #33
POLO GROUNDS
Giants Even Series With First Place Pirates
Led by the battery of Art Nehf and Earl Smith, the Giants defeat the Pirates and knot the series at one. Goldie Rapp and Earl Smith each drive in a run apiece in the second. But the Pirates answered with a run in the third and two in the fourth. With Max Carey batting in the third, Pittsburgh executes a double-steal; Bill Skiff steals home. Shortstop Rabbit Maranville homers leading off the fourth, and third baseman Cotton Tierney drives home a run giving Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. Earl Smith drives home his second run in the bottom of the frame, and after advancing on a passed ball, scores on Art Nehf's base hit into center field. Frankie Frisch closes out the scoring when he delivers George Burns for a 5-3 Giants lead and the final margin of victory. Nehf closes out the game with five scoreless innings. All told, Art Nehf yields three runs, two earned, on five hits and three walks over nine full innings. He improves to 5-2 despite a lofty 4.28 ERA.
- FINAL: PITT 3; NYG 5
- RECORD: 22-11 (.667), second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh
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GAME #32
Sportsman's Park
Fellow New Yorker Welcomes Yankees to Sportsman's Park
The Yankees jump into the pit dug by their own fielding misplays. After coming up just short in two previous contests, the Browns finally break out against Carl Mays, who yields seven runs on five hits and one walk in just 1.2 innings. However, six are unearned as the Yankees total four errors, three by second baseman Johnny Mitchell. Third baseman Earl Smith homers in the fifth against Bill Piercy, pitching in relief of Mays, giving the Browns an 8-1 lead. The Yankees rally for three runs in the sixth to no avail. Meusel, who contributed one of New York's errors drives in his 31st run of the season, and Aaron Ward goes 3 for 4 with a double and a run batted in. Held hitless again, Babe Ruth is now 2 for 22 in his last six games. Browns' first baseman George Sisler goes 2 for 3 with a stolen base and two runs batted in. Making only his fourth appearance for St. Louis since his acquisition from Detroit, Rochester, N.Y. native Bernie Boland earns the win.
- FINAL: NYY 4; STL 8
- RECORD: 19-13 (.594), second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland
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