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 heightened more so 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 #65
POLO GROUNDS
Yankees Take Series Opener From Washington; Mays Wins Number Eleven
Back home at the Polo Grounds, the Yankees offer visiting Washington no quarter. Making his 16th start, Carl "Sub" Mays holds the Senators to three runs on just six hits and one walk with a pair of strikeouts through nine. Shortstop Frank O'Rourke connects on a two-run home run in the fifth, and right fielder Sam Rice drives home a run in the eighth. Washington left-hander Harry Courtney allows nine runs, seven earned 15 hits, and three walks in a losing effort. Home Run Baker goes 3 for 4, while Aaron Ward and Wally Schang drive home two runs apiece. Carl Mays improves to 11-5 with a 2.44 ERA.
- FINAL: WAS 3; NYY 9
- RECORD: 38-27 (.585); second place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland
⚾ ⚾
GAME #62
Baker Bowl
Giants Announce Their Arrival in the City of Brotherly Love with Authority
Back in Philadelphia for the first time since the regular season's grand opening, the Giants make themselves at home with an eleven-run, 19 hit barrage at the Baker Bowl. They require less than two hours before strutting off the field in triumph. Making his twelfth start this season, southpaw Art Nehf limits the Phillies to a pair of runs on eight hits and one walk with five strikeouts through nine. Meanwhile, Phillies starter Stan Baumgartner's outing ends with haste, just four batters, four hits, and four runs for the loss. The bullpen fares no better, allowing seven runs, five earned, on 15 hits. Seven New York hits go for extra bases. Catcher Frank Snyder is the big man on campus. With the Giants leading 9-2 after six, Snyder homers in the seventh and again in the ninth for good measure. George Burns goes 3 for 6 with a double and two runs scored. Frankie Frisch and High Pockets Kelly each drive home two, and Ross Youngs goes 2 for 3 with two walks, two runs scored, and a run batted in, giving him 47 for the season. Alas, the Giants gain no ground as the Pirates take down the Cardinals at Sportsman's Park.
- FINAL: NYG 11; PHI 2
- RECORD: 38-24 (.613); 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.