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 #83
POLO GROUNDS
Pittsburgh Departs New York With Series Split And Three Game Circuit Lead
Pittsburgh answers back for yesterday's shellacking by inflicting one of their own. Having salvaged a four-game split, the Pirates set sail for Boston's Back Bay, leaving the Giants one game further from first place than when they first arrived at the Polo Grounds on Saturday. But the competition was fierce. In this series, the victor scored in double-digits three times, while game two went into extra innings. On Tuesday, Pittsburgh opens right away with three runs on three hits and a walk in the first. The Pirates then erupt for seven runs in the seventh, kicked off by first baseman Charlie Grimm's two-run home run, knocking starter Rosy Ryan from the box. Facing Slim Salle, the Bucs post five more runs highlighted by Max Carey's two-run home run. Johnny Rawlings triples leading off the fifth and scores on pinch-hitter Casey Stengel's ground ball to second to ruin the shutout. Otherwise, long-time Pirate veteran Babe Adams limits the Giants to a run on eight hits and no walks with six strikeouts for the win.
- FINAL: PIT 10; NYG 1
- RECORD: 52-31 (.627); second place, 3.0 GB of Pittsburgh
⚾
GAME #85
Navin Field
Tigers Throw One Away; Yankees Extend Win Streak To Eight
New York completes a sweep of the Tigers and ties their season-high eight-game consecutive win streak. Waite Hoyt is good enough, allowing five earned runs on nine hits and three walks with three strikeouts for his eleventh win against seven losses and a 3.77 ERA. Down 5-0 after three, Detroit rallies for two runs in the fourth and three runs in the sixth to knot the game at five. The decisive run crosses the plate in the top half of the sixth; Babe Ruth doubles to center field with one out. Tiger backstop Eddie Ainsmith attempting to pick off Ruth throws errantly down to second, allowing him to score. Wally Schang goes 2 for 4 with a double and a run batted in. With the victory, the Yankees pull within one game of the first-place Indians. Onward to Cleveland.
- FINAL: NYY 6; DET 5
- RECORD: 54-31 (.635): second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland
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