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 heightened more so 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. Of course, I'll be exercising my creative license whenever and wherever ever possible. But, more than anything, this is about having fun and celebrating New York City's baseball history.
Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!
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GAME #68
POLO GROUNDS
Make-Up: April 18, 1921
Bob Shawkey Struggles, But Highlanders Become Fourth Team to Reach Forty Wins
Bob Shawkey endures another unsettling start but holds on for his fifth victory this season. He yields two runs on two hits in the first, then balks home a run in the third. However, in the bottom of the third, his mates stake him to a 6-3 lead. Boston scores twice more on a pair of infield errors in the ninth, but the Yankees have Shawkey well covered with insurance runs in the fourth and seventh innings. All told, Shawkey allows five runs, but only two are earned, along with seven hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Red Sox right fielder Sammy Vick goes 2 for 4 with a double, triple, and two runs batted in. Meanwhile, Wally Pipp leads the Yankees with three hits, Aaron Ward goes 2 for 4 with a triple and three runs batted in, and Roger Peckinpaugh homers off Boston starter Herb Pennock in the second.
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GAME #69
Yankees Sweep; Bambino Hits Number 28, But Roger Peckinpaugh Tenth Inning Home Run Ends Game
The Yankees send home 25,000 fans happy as a clam at high tide but first are made to wait. Carl Mays takes on Bullet Joe Bush. The teams traded runs in the first as Babe Ruth hits his 28th home run. He is now just seven home runs away from tying
Roger Connor's all-time mark. Boston scores in the second, and left fielder Mike Menosky homers off Mays to deep right field in the third for a 3-1 Red Sox lead. Aaron Ward drives home a run in the fourth, and Wally Schang doubles home Wally Pipp in the sixth to tie the game at three. Afterwhich the score remains unchanged through the ninth and into extra innings, they go. Boston first baseman Shano Collins doubles off Mays leading off the tenth inning, and is then bunted over to third base. Catcher Roxy Walters follows with a grounder to first, and Collins is thrown out at home. Chick Fewster singles off Bullet Joe Bush, leading off the bottom of the tenth. Roger Peckinpaugh steps in and homers deep into the right field stands to end the game. The Yankees complete the sweep and gain one-half game on the idle Indians.
- FINAL: BOS 3; NYY 5
- RECORD: 41-28 (.594); second place, 3.5 GB of Cleveland
GAME #66
Braves Field
Former Giants Hurler Bill Oeschger Outlasts Fred Toney at Braves Field
One would think Bill Oeschger still holds a grudge against John McGraw for including him in a trade to acquire Art Nehf from the Braves. Be that as it may, Oeschger outlasts Fred Toney for a series-opening victory. He allows the Giants just two runs on four hits and five walks for his ninth victory this season. Ross Youngs and Curt Walker drive home the only runs for New York. Meanwhile, Youngs accounts for two of the Giants' four hits, while Frankie Frisch and High Pockets Kelly account for the others. Fred Toney is the hard-luck loser, allowing three runs on eight hits and two walks through eight innings pitched.
- FINAL: NYG 2; BOS 3
- RECORD: 40-26 (.606); second place, 4.5 GB of Pittsburgh
