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 of 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 as 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 #35
POLO GROUNDS
*Makeup Game: April 13, 1921
Carl Mays Makes Easy Work of Athletics
Carl Mays returns from suspension and twirls a gem in the Yankees return home to the Polo Grounds. In a makeup of an Apr. 13 rainout, Mays limits Philadelphia to one run on seven hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts through nine. He improves to 8-4 with a 1.81 earned run average. Center fielder Frank Welch scores on a fielder's choice in the fifth to spoil the shutout. The Yankees bunch together three runs in the third courtesy of Roger Peckinpaugh, Wally Pipp, and Bob Meusel. Wally Schang singles home a run in the sixth and drives home another in the eighth, giving the Yankees a 5-1 victory.
- FINAL: PHI 1; NYY 5
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GAME #36
POLO GROUNDS
Yankees Complete Twin Bill Sweep
Bob Shawkey sabotages his own shutout effort by walking in the A's first run in the eighth. He then yields a run in the ninth. However, Shawkey was well covered. The Yankees plate a pair in the first with runs batted in by Wally Pipp and Bob Meusel. In the fourth, Chicken Hawks triples home Pipp and Meusel, and Aaron Ward singles home Hawks. Wally Pipp adds the finishing touch with a run-scoring double in the seventh, giving the Yankees a 6-2 final margin of victory. Shawkey yields one run on five hits and issues six bases on balls but strikes out eight batters for the win.
- FINAL: PHI 2; NYY 6
- RECORD: 22-14 (.611), second place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland
GAME #37
Braves Field
* Makeup Game: April 19, 1921
Late Rally Gets Giants By Resilient Braves
Game One is a wild affair. Having lost their lead, the Giants muster four runs in the seventh inning en route to a 10-7 victory. They jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first, but it does not last. Trailing 5-3 after five and a half, the Braves rally for three runs in the bottom of the fifth for a 6-5 lead. Art Nehf allows all seven runs, six earned, eleven hits, and no walks with four strikeouts. He yielded a home run to Braves' third baseman Tony Boeckel. Jesse Barnes throws three scoreless innings in relief. George Burns, High Pockets Kelly, and Aaron Ward each drive in two runs apiece. Dave Bancroft, Frankie Frisch, and Earl Smith each drive in one run. Boston amasses 14 hits, but five errors contribute to their undoing. Five of the Giants' ten runs are unearned. Art Nehf improves to 6-2 with a still lofty 4.75 ERA.
- FINAL: NYG 10; BOS 7
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GAME #38
Braves Field
Braves Win in Ninth Inning; Earn Twin Bill Split
In another see-saw tilt, The Giants bat around in taking a 3-0 first-inning lead highlighted by a Frankie Frisch home run. Dave Bancroft drives home a run in the fourth. In the bottom of the sixth, Boston gets the better of Giants' starter Pol Perritt and Slim Salle. The Giants committed three errors behind them as the Braves scored four runs for a 5-4 lead. In the top of the ninth, High Pockets Kelly drives home Frisch tying the game at five. Facing Rube Benton in relief of Salle, second baseman Hod Ford drives home Tony Boeckel for the win. Rube Benton suffers his first loss this season against three wins and a 1.49 ERA. Boston's Joe Oeschger goes the distance for the win.
- FINAL: NYG 5; BOS 6
- RECORD: 25-13 (.22-14), second place, 2.5 GB of Pittsburgh
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