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 #56
POLO GROUNDS
Wally Pipp Leads 14 Hit Attack; Yanks Get Even With Chicago
The Yankees even their series with the White Sox. Roger Peckinpaugh and Wally Pipp drive home runs in the third. Chicago center fielder Amos Strunk drives in a run against Bob Shawkey in the fourth, but the Yankees answered with three runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth. Bob Shawkey yields two runs in the ninth but completes the task at hand. Shawkey allows three runs on seven hits and three walks with four strikeouts for his fourth victory this season against two losses with a 3.16 ERA. Roy Wilkinson takes the loss. Wally Pipp is 2 for 4 with a double and four runs batted in. Peckinpaugh leads the Yankees with three hits and three runs scored. However, the Yankees gain no ground as the Indians defeat the A's at Philadelphia.
- FINAL: CHI 3; NYY 7
- RECORD: 34-22 (.607); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland
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GAME #55
Cubs Park
Giants Fall To Old Pete in 13th Inning
The Giants and Cubs head into extra innings for a second straight game. Phil Douglas and Rube Benton duel with Old Pete Alexander to a two-all tie through nine. Ross Youngs drives home a run in the fourth and drives in his second run in the sixth. Chicago scores one in the fifth, and Bill Killefer's hit against Rube Benton in the ninth inning ties the game. The score remains unchanged through the twelfth. With Grover Alexander still in the game, Frank Snyder drives home two runs with a double to left field. But Rube Benton and Art Nehf cannot hold. Chicago rallied for three runs on three hits, with defensive replacement Bob O'Farrell knocking home the winning run. Art Nehf takes the loss, with much to be desired from Rube Benton, and Grover Cleveland Alexander earns his fourth victory this season.
- FINAL: NYG 4; CHI 5
- RECORD: 34-21 (.618); second place, 4.0 GB of Pittsburgh
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