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 #78
POLO GROUNDS
Earl Smith and Art Nehf Lead Giants to Second Straight Victory Over Cardinals
After three scoreless innings, the Giants finally get after Cardinal starter Roy Walker. With two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth, catcher Earl Smith connects for a grand slam home run to deep right field. Then with two on and two outs in the sixth, the Giants, score three more on consecutive hits from Art Nehf, George Burns, and Dave Bancroft. New York picks up an unearned run in the seventh, and Ross Youngs drives home the Giants' ninth and final run in the bottom half of the eighth. Making his 15th start and the 21st appearance this season, Art Nehf allows four runs (three earned) on eight hits and four walks with two strikeouts in eight innings pitched for his eleventh win this season against four losses with a 4.14 ERA. Don't look now, but Giant backstop Earl Smith is batting .313 with seven home runs and 33 runs batted in. Technically in his sophomore season, Smith has already far exceeded last season's rookie performance.
- FINAL: STL 4; NYG 9
- RECORD: 49-29 (.628); second place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland
⚾
GAME #80
Sportsman's Park
Carl Mays Rules The Day
St. Louis starter and one-time Yankee hurler Urban Shocker yields two home runs, but none off the bat of Babe Ruth. Rather, the Bambino is hit with a pitch. Chick Fewster is hit with a pitch as well. Shocker and Ruth never played together. However, he and Fewster, albeit briefly, did. But after last season's unfortunate and fatal incident, Carl Mays doesn't seem inclined to retaliate. After all, it's been less than a year since Ray Chapman's passing. Instead, guile and craftsmanship rule Sub's day. Mays allows just one run on eight hits and no walks while facing only six batters over the minimum as the Yankees turn two double-plays in his support. At the plate, the Yankees strike for eleven runs on 18 hits. Wally Pipp hits his fifth this season, and Carl Mays helps himself by going 2 for 5 with his own home run and three runs batted in.
- FINAL: NYY 11; STL 1
- RECORD: 49-31 (.613); second place, 3.5 GB of Cleveland
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