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, two full decades later, still harbored much animosity not only towards Ban Johnson and his rebel circuit (unkept promises included) but more so towards the Yankees themselves who 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 but an accomplishment for which John McGraw has little appreciation as one who believes players work too hard and earnestly only 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 in 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 #18
POLO GROUNDS
Fred Toney Outlasts Sherry Smith
After two straight days compromised by foul weather, the Giants and Robins finally resume hostilities in front of a capacity crowd at the Polo Grounds. Making his fifth appearance of the season, Fred Toney is opposed by Sherry Smith, who, in his last start, defeated the Giants at Ebbets Field. The Giants strike early. Frankie Frisch triples home George Burns, and Ross Youngs knocks home Frisch for a prompt 2-0 lead after one. Fred Toney makes it stand. He yields a home run to Ed Konetchy leading off the fifth, and that's it. Toney allows just six hits and one walk over nine complete innings for his third win of the season against two losses. High Pockets Kelly drives home an insurance run in the eighth. Brooklyn slips down to third place as the Giants overtake second behind the Pirates, who today defeat the Cardinals at Forbes Field.
- FINAL: BKN 1; NYG 3
- RECORD: 12-6 (.667); second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh
GAME #16
Griffith Stadium
Highlanders Derail The Big Train; Babe Ruth Hits Number Eight
The Yankees overcome a two-run deficit when Babe Ruth hits his eighth home in the eighth, helping tie the game at four. But Washington regains the lead with a run in the bottom half of the frame. Undeterred, the New Yorks muster yet another two-run rally in the ninth to come away with a two-game sweep of the Senators at Griffith Stadium. Pitching is taken to task as both teams join for 27 total hits. Walter Johnson allows all six runs on 13 hits and four walks with four strikeouts. His record evens out at 2-2 with an unfamiliar 3.73 earned run average. The Brooklynite Waite Hoyt earns the victory with 6.2 innings pitched in relief of starter Jack Quinn. A day after tossing nine against the Senators, Carl Mays pitches the ninth to close out the Yankees' third consecutive victory. Bob Meusel leads the Yankees charge with a double, triple, and four runs batted in. Aaron Ward, playing second base this game, goes 3 for 4 with one run batted in. Washington first baseman Joe Judge, also hailing from Brooklyn, goes 3 for 4 with one run batted in. Second baseman Bucky Harris and Walter Johnson drive in a run apiece.
- FINAL: NYY 6; WAS 5
- RECORD: 9-7 (.563), third place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland
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