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 #75
POLO GROUNDS
Giants Take Third Straight From Cubs Behind Rosy Ryan's Stellar Performance
In yet another one-run affair, the Giants gain their third consecutive victory over the Cubs. Making only the fifteenth start of his young career, the not-yet 23-year old Rosy Ryan limits the Cubs to one earned run on just five scattered hits and one walk with three strikeouts over nine innings for the win. Ryan faces just five over the minimum and sets down the final ten batters faced. Meanwhile, twelfth-year veteran Lefty Tyler is the hard-luck loser, allowing only two runs, one earned, ten hits, and no walks. Appearing in his third straight game at first base in place of High Pockets Kelly, the sparingly utilized Mike Gonzalez rewards Mister McGraw with three hits in four at-bats. To that effect, recently acquired Johnny Walker with two more hits continues reaffirming Mcgraw's want for bringing him to Gotham. Otherwise, Chicago mistakes in the sixth are their undoing. Dave Bancroft reaches safely on an error by shortstop Charlie Hollocher. Frankie Frisch triples home Bancroft, then scores after essentially being picked off but winds up scoring nonetheless on a mishandled ball by catcher Bill Killefer. Afterwhich, Rosy Ryan slams the door shut on the Cubs. The Giants finally gain a half-game on the Pirates, who fall to the Dodgers in Brooklyn. Appreciative, perhaps. Confident the Giants boast the strongest pitching in the circuit, yes indeed.
- FINAL: CHI 1; NYG 2
- RECORD: 47-28 (.627); second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh
⚾
GAME #77
Comisky Park
Yankees Drop Third In A Row At Comiskey Park
Long-time White Sox and two-time 20-game winner Red Faber hurled a gem at the Yankees, limiting the visitors to a run on just five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts for his eye-popping17th victory this season against only six losses with a 2.50 ERA. Babe Ruth drives home Chick Fewster in the third for the Yankees only tally. After trading runs in the third, the White Sox pull ahead with a run in the fifth and two in the seventh. Chicago's Amos Strunk, Johnny Mostil, and Earl Sheely drive in one run apiece. Yankees starter Jack Quinn allows four runs, three earned, on 13 hits and three walks with five strikeouts in a losing effort, his seventh against five wins with a 4.65 ERA. After a third straight loss to the White Sox, all eyes remained on Miller Huggins, whose team today slipped an additional 1.5 games in the standings behind the Indians, who twice today defeated the A's at Cleveland.
- FINAL: NYY 1; CHI 4
- RECORD: 46-31 (.597); second place; 3.5 GB of Cleveland
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