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 lose 102 games. Rebranded in 1913 as the Yankees, they move 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 proceed to lose another 94 games.
Known to hold a grudge, McGraw two full decades later still harbors much animosity 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 remains 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 at the turnstile in a decade.
Then, in 1920, baseball's tectonic plates shift along the New York/New England fault. 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 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 - if the preceding season 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 is becoming an insufferable condition—the Giants attempt to evict the Yankees before the 1921 season 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 #90
POLO GROUNDS
Home Not So Sweet Home
Perhaps the Yankees could have used another day off. In their return to the Polo Grounds, the Huggmen bow to the St. Louis Browns. A disappointed crowd of 14,000 watched on as the Yankees twice relinquish the lead. Tied at three through the seventh, the Browns score the go-ahead run in the eighth, then erupt for three runs in the top of the ninth. The Yankees muster two runs in the bottom half of the frame, but no more. Carl Mays allows all seven runs (six earned) on a dozen hits and two walks for his seventh loss against 15 victories. After being battered by the Yanks back at St. Louis, Urban Shocker gets his revenge. The one-time Yankee allows his former team five runs (four earned) on eight hits and five walks with six strikeouts for the win. Shocker helps himself out at the plate as well, going 2 for 3 with a double and a pair of runs batted in. Playing in place of George Sisler, Browns' first baseman Marty McManus is the big man on campus, going 4 for 5 with a triple, home run, and four runs batted in. Roger Peckinpaugh is the lone Highlander with multiple hits. With a sacrifice fly, Babe Ruth drives home his 95th run this season.
- FINAL: STL 7; NYY 5
- RECORD: 56-34 (.622); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland
⚾
GAME #91
Forbes Field
Art Nehf Outperforms Pirates Ace Wilbur Cooper; McGrawmen Within Two of Lead
For the denizens of Forbes Field on hand for Wednesday's clash against the Gothams, the dog days of summer have arrived. Sitting in airless heat, 13,000 Pirate fans watch with dismay as Giants' starter Art Nehf outduels Pittsburgh ace Wilbur Cooper who last season tallied 24 victories, and this season appears on a similar path. That is until the McGrawmen showed up. George Cutshaw's misplay at second to open the game was indeed a portent of things to come. Frankie Frisch doubles home Dave Bancroft, and Ross Youngs triples home Frisch for a prompt 2-0 lead. John McGraw's diminutive southpaw Art Nehf makes it stand. Pittsburgh spoils the shutout in the seventh but is otherwise limited to seven hits and one walk. Nehf improves his record to 13-4 with a 3.89 ERA. In the top of the seventh, with two outs and runners on the corners, and Johnny Rawlings at the plate, the Giants execute a double-steal; Ross Youngs steals home while the Giants' latest acquisition Irish Meusel slides safely into second. Dave Bancroft adds the finishing touch driving home Frank Snyder in the ninth, giving the Giants a 4-1 margin of victory. That's two straight for the Giants, who pulled within two games of the still, first-place Pirates.
- FINAL: NYG 4; PITT 1
- RECORD: 57-34 (.626); second place, 2.0 GB of Pittsburgh
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