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
Wednesday, May 25, 1921
POLO GROUNDS
⚾
GAME #33
Sportsman's Park
Yankees Bow to Browns; Carl Mays Suspended
Babe Ruth breaks out of his hitting slump. He finishes the day 2 for 4 with a double, his 13th home run, and three runs batted in. Down by a run with two outs and two runners on base in the seventh, Ruth connects on what is being called the longest home run hit at Sportsman's Park, deep into the center field bleachers, giving the Yankees a 6-4 lead. St. Louis gets one back off Jack Quinn brought in to relieve starter Alex Ferguson in the seventh. Ruth is hit with a pitch in the top of the ninth only to earn Miller Higgins' ire when he foolishly runs nearly to third on a routine flyball and gets doubled-up trying to feebly get back. In the home ninth, George Sisler singles and scores the tying run on Ken Williams' triple. Quinn then issues two intentional passes to load the bases. With Baby Doll Jacobson at the plate, Quinn unleashes a wild pitch that hits Jacobson in the shoulder and makes its way to the backstop. From third base, Ken Williams scores the winning run. With two straight victories, St. Louis salvages a split of the four-game series. To rub salt in their wounds, the American League today notified the Yankees that pitcher Carl Mays is suspended indefinitely for abusing and berating Umpire Chill during yesterday's contest, and Wally Schang is fined $25 for similar behavior.
- FINAL: NYY 6; STL 7
- RECORD: 19-14 (.576); second place, 2.5 GB of Cleveland
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