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 #54
POLO GROUNDS
Bambino Swats Two More Home Runs; Yankees Sweep Tigers
Babe Ruth has now hit four home runs within the last 24-hours. He hit a two-run home run in the first, then another two-run home run in the third, and the Yankees never look back. The Huggmen also benefit from Home Run Baker's jolt in the seventh en route to a 9-6 final score. Trailing 9-3 through the eighth, the Tigers score five times in the eighth to no avail. Center fielder Ty Cobb hits his ninth home run this season in the sixth. Braggo Roth and starter Rip Collins each drive home a run apiece. After allowing six runs (five earned), Collins is the fortunate winner, after 13 hits and two walks through 7.2 innings pitched. Carl Mays closes out the final 1.1 innings. The Bambino now has 23 home runs and 59 runs batted in. His second home run to straightaway center field is believed to have landed well over 460 feet away from home plate, many rows back in the bleachers. With the victory, the Yankees complete a four-game sweep of the Tigers. The Yankees also gain a full game on the Indians, who were defeated in eleven innings by the Senators at Washington. They will next welcome the Chicago White Sox to the Polo Grounds.
- FINAL: DET 6; NYY 9
- RECORD: 33-21 (.611); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland
⚾ ⚾ ⚾
GAME #53
Sportsman's Park
Giants Snap Skid; Salvage Finale at Sportsman's Park
On the brink of their seventh straight defeat, the New York Giants muster four runs in the eighth for a come from behind 6-4 victory in the series finale and thus avoid being swept at Sportsman's Park. Fred Toney outlasts Cardinals starter Roy Walker who gets knocked out of the box after seven. Toney made his 16th appearance, allowing four runs, three earned, nine hits, and just one walk through nine complete innings. Cardinals' second baseman Rogers Hornsby goes 3 for 4 with a run batted in. Roy Walker takes the loss, but his effort is compromised by six errors. He yields five runs, but only two are earned. Otherwise, Walker gives up six hits and three walks with three strikeouts through seven. The Cardinals' own ten-game winning streak comes to an end as well. Ross Youngs is 2 for 4 with three runs batted in. Dave Bancroft goes 2 for 4 with two runs scored and one run batted in, and High Pockets Kelly drives home his 51st run this season. The Giants arrive in Chicago tomorrow.
- FINAL: NYG 6; STL 4
- RECORD: 33-20 (.623); second place, 4.0 GB of Pittsburgh
No comments:
Post a Comment
Say what you feel. The worse comment you can make is the one you do not make.