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 #50
POLO GROUNDS
Babe Ruth Sets 20th Century Home Run Mark, But Yankees Lose to First Place Indians
It's a bitter-sweet day for the 22,000 on hand at the Polo Grounds. The Yankees lose again to the Indians and finish the series no closer to first place than when they started back on Tuesday. Jim Bagby toes the rubber for Cleveland and is opposed by Carl Mays. Both starters fail to see this game to its conclusion. Cleveland opens the first on a triple by Tris Speaker and a base hit from right fielder Elmer Smith.
With two outs in the third, Babe Ruth hits his 17th home run this season and the 120th of his career. He breaks the 20th-century major league record formerly held by Gavvy "Cactus" Cravath, who hit the final home run of his career last season. Ruth can now set his sights on baseball's all-time home run champion, Roger Conner, who compiled 138 home runs in a career spanning 1880 through 1897, most notably for the Troy Trojans and New York Giants.
Elmer Smith homers off Carl Mays in the seventh, giving the Indians a 2-1 lead. But Jim Bigby begins to unravel in the bottom of the frame. With two on and two outs, Wally Pipp drives home Gabby Roth, but an errant throw by Bigby puts two runners in scoring position. Bob Meusel makes him pay with a double scoring Roger Peckinpaugh and Pipp. In the bottom of the eighth, Carl Mays homers off Jim Bigby, giving the Yankees a 5-3 lead. After Braggo Roth follows with a triple, Tris Speaker removes Bigby from the game. Roger Peckinpaugh greets Indians reliever Duster Mails with a single scoring Roth. But Mails settles down, and the Yankees leave the bases loaded. Tris Speaker doubles home a run in the top of the ninth. After right fielder Elmer Smith's hit puts runners on the corners, Miller Huggins removes Mays in favor of Bob Shawkey, who yields consecutive hits to third baseman Larry Gardner and Joe Sewell for a six-all tie. Larry Gardner homers leading off the eleventh, and Pinch Thomas doubles home Joe Sewell for an 8-6 lead. George Uhle retires the Yankees in the bottom half of the frame for the win. Bob Shawkey takes the loss.
- FINAL: CLE 8; NYY 6
- RECORD: 29-21 (.580); second place, 2.5 GB of Cleveland
- r. New York Tribune
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GAME #49
Redland Field
Reds Take Second Straight and the Series; Giants Skid Now At Three
Eppa Rixey hurls a gem, and the Giants lose their third straight. Rixey, the former Philadelphia Phillie and military veteran yields just two hits through the first seven innings. The Giants finally push across a run in the eighth when Frankie Frisch triples and scores on Ross Youngs' base hit. Otherwise, Eppa Rixey allows one run on just four hits and four walks with three strikeouts over nine innings complete. Fred Toney simply is not up to the task. He yields two earned runs on ten hits and three walks through six innings pitched. Slim Salle surrenders one run in two innings pitched. With two on and two outs in the third, right fielder Rube Bressler triples home two runs. Bressler again drives in a run in the home seventh.
- FINAL: NYG 1; CIN 3
- RECORD: 32-17 (.653); second place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh
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