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 #59
POLO GROUNDS
Giants Trounced By Braves In Return Home
A healthy Tuesday crowd of 12,000 is happy to see their returning McGrawmen again but ultimately go home distraught over what unfolds before their eyes. Facing starter Rube Benton, Boston opens with two runs in the first. The Giants answered with four runs in the bottom half of the frame; in consecutive at-bats, Ross Youngs triples home Frankie Frisch, High Pockets Kelly doubles home Youngs, and Curt Walker triples home Kelly. After Braves starter Hugh McQuillan walks John Monroe, Earl Smith singles home Walker for a 4-2 lead. Braves shortstop Walter Barbare triples home a run in the second. Boston then pushes the tying run across in the fifth. Afterwhich, things go awry for the Giants. Pitching in relief of Benton, Jesse Barnes yields seven runs on four hits and three errors in the field. If that wasn't enough, the Braves hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh off Art Nehf, a three-run shot to deep right field by Fred Nicholson, and one of the inside-the-park variety by Tony Boeckel. Not yet done, catcher Hank Gowdy homers in the eighth. Frank Snyder drives in a run in the ninth, giving this game its 16-5 final score. Jesse Barnes earns the loss, McQuillan the win.
- FINAL: BOS 16; NYG 6
- RECORD: 36-23 (.610); second place, 4.5 GB of Pittsburgh
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GAME #60
Fenway Park
The makeup of April 29, 1921
Herb Pennock Leads Red Sox Victory With Arm and Bat
After dropping yesterday's series opener, the Squire, Navy veteran Herb Pennock turns the tables on the Yankees, limiting the New Yorkers to three runs. Boston promptly scores two runs in the first, but the Yankees tie in the second with runs batted in from Fred Hofmann and Roger Peckinpaugh. The Red Sox then take starter Bob Shawkey to task with four runs in the bottom of the frame for a 6-2 lead highlighted by Pennock's inside-the-park home run to deepest center field. Boston scores twice more with runs in the fifth and seventh innings. The Yankees muster just one more run in the eighth; Aaron Ward with the run batted in. Bob Shawkey loses his third, and Herb Pennock wins his sixth.
- FINAL: NYY 3; BOS 8
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GAME #61
Fenway Park
Red Sox Complete Twin Bill Sweep
Leading off the game, left fielder Chicken Hawks lines an inside-the-park home run to deep center field. Red Sox starter Bullet Joe Bush allows the Yankees just four hits the rest of the game. Facing his former team, Babe Ruth is a quiet 1 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. Boston left fielder Mike Menosky puts the finishing touches on a 6-1 victory with a two-run single in the sixth. Losing pitcher Waite Hoyt allows six runs, five earned, on ten hits, and four walks.
- FINAL: NYY 1; BOS 6
- RECORD: 35-26 (.574); second place, 3.5 GB of Cleveland
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