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!
GAME #53
POLO GROUNDS
Babe Ruth Pitches Five Innings, Hits Two Home Runs
Babe Ruth continues his rampage against the Tigers while the Yankees hit four home runs. Picking up where they left off yesterday, New York mounts a 13 run and 16 hit attack en route to their third straight win against Detroit. Manager Ty Cobb seemed to have no qualms letting starter Howard Ehmke go the full nine innings. One must think why. This brings us to Babe Ruth. Making his first start of the season and only his second start as a member of the Yankees, southpaw George Herman Ruth faces 28 batters, yields four runs, three earned, on five hits and seven walks with one strikeout in a winning effort. He helps his own cause with a solo home run in the third and a two-run blast in the seventh. He now has 21 home runs this season. Chicken Hawks and Home Run Baker also homer off Ehmke. Aaron Ward joins Ruth with three runs batted in. Carl Mays and Alex Ferguson close out the game with two innings apiece, but neither goes unscathed.
- FINAL: DET 8; NYY 13
- RECORD: 32-21 (.604); second place, 2.5 GB of Cleveland
⚾ ⚾ ⚾
GAME #52
Sportsman's Park
Giants Skid Hits Six
The Cardinals scored early, often, and late in a 10-1 rout of the Giants. In the first, Dave Bancroft scores on High Pockets Kelly's 50th run batted in this season. After which, Cardinals' starter Jesse Haines shuts out the Giants over his final eight innings pitched, allowing eight total hits and three walks with six strikeouts for the win. Giants starter Art Nehf and reliever Rosy Ryan are equally mistreated by St. Louis. Art Nehf suffers just his third loss against seven wins. Six of the Cardinals' 15 hits go for extra bases, including a triple by Rogers Hornsby and a home run by Les Mann. The Cardinals extended the Giants' losing streak to six.
- FINAL: NYG 1; STL 10
- RECORD: 32-20 (.615); second place, 4.0 GB of Pittsburgh
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