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. 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.
- Stats: BASEBALL REFERENCE
Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!
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GAME #52
POLO GROUNDS
Ruth Hits Number 19, But Roger Peckinpaugh Strikes Decisive Blow
If you were a pitching and defense enthusiast, this was not the game for you. There were 31 total hits struck in this game, but fans and scribes only talked about one. A robust crowd of 34,000 fans packs the Polo Grounds in witness of Babe Ruth's 19th home run this season as part of a fifth-inning seven-run outburst. Detroit starter Suds Sutherland and Yankees hurler Bob Shawkey both experience early exits. Sutherland allows eight runs on 14 hits and a walk through six innings pitched. Meanwhile, Bob Shawkey likewise surrenders eight runs through seven innings, but only two are earned. Detroit rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth, highlighted by Harry Heilmann's triple. Now facing reliever Dutch Leonard in the bottom half of the eight and the game tied at eight, Roger Peckinpaugh connects for a two-run home run, Wally Pipp drives home Ruth, and Aaron Ward plates Pipp for a 12-8 Yankees lead, and the final margin of victory. Winning pitcher Jack Quinn retires the Tigers in a scoreless ninth. This is New York's second straight defeat of the Tigers and their fifth win in six contests against Detroit.
- FINAL: DET 8; NYY 12
- RECORD: 31-21 (.596); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland
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GAME #51
Sportsman's Park
Cardinals' Ninth Inning Heroics Send Giants to Fifth Straight Loss
Game two against the Cardinals is a tightly contested affair pitting Jesse Barnes against Cardinals' rookie Bill Pertica. In the first, Frankie Frisch drives home Dave Bancroft for the first run of the game. Jesse Barnes keeps St. Louis scoreless through the fifth. In the sixth, Rogers Hornsby triples home a run and scores, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead. In the top of the ninth, John Monroe's two-run home run off Pertica gives the Giants a 3-2 lead. But it does not last. Third baseman Milt Stock's two-run home run off Fred Toney in the bottom half of the ninth gives the Cardinals the win in a theatrical fashion. Meanwhile, the Giants are sent to their fifth straight defeat. Slim Salle takes the loss.
- FINAL: NYG 3; STL 4
- RECORD: 32-19 (.627); second place, 3.0 GB of Pittsburgh
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