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 Season 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 #93
POLO GROUNDS
Carl Mays Yields Just Two Hits; Babe Ruth Hits Number 38
The Yankees turn around and do to Cleveland what the Indians had done to them. After yesterday's fifteen-run discrepancy, the Highlanders assail Cleveland pitching for twelve runs on 14 hits. Starter Allan Sothoron, who just over one week ago hurled a three-hit shutout over the Yankees, surrenders seven runs on eight hits and four walks through five innings for the loss. But the Yankees are far from done. Reliever Ray Caldwell allows five more runs on six hits and two walks over the final three innings. With the bases loaded in the home sixth, starting pitcher Carl Mays doubles home all three runners to knock Allan Sothoron out of the box. Then with two outs and two runners aboard, a crowd of 28,000 comes to its feet when Babe Ruth connects off Caldwell for his 38th home run this season. With four runs batted in, Ruth also breaks the century mark, notching his 102nd to date. Carl Mays allows two runs on just two hits, including a home run by Doc Johnston, and three walks with two strikeouts for his 16th victory against seven losses with a 2.93 ERA. With the win, the Yankees, again, pull within two games of first-place Cleveland. The third-place Washington Senators are a distant eleven games out of first.
- FINAL: CLE 2; NYY 12
- RECORD: 58-35 (.624); second place, 2.0 GB of Cleveland
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GAME #96
Redland Field
Make-Up: 6/9/1921
Eppa Rixey Outlasts Giants
Cincinnati owns a 5-2 lead after five. All runs are earned on eight hits and two walks as starter Phil Douglas exits after the fifth. The Giants seize a 7-5 lead in the top of the sixth when an errant throw by center fielder Edd Roush clears the way for five unearned runs. But Rosy Ryan pitching in relief of Douglas does not hold. Jake Daubert and Larry Kopf drive in a run apiece, tying the game at seven, and into extra innings, they go. The score remains unchanged through the eleventh. In the twelfth, the Giants have the go-ahead run on second with less than two outs, then, with two outs, Frankie Frisch poised at third, but Irish Meusel leaves him stranded. With one out and two runners on base in the bottom half of the frame, Jake Daubert singles to right field, scoring Sam Bohne from second for the win. Rosy Ryan surrenders three runs on five hits and three walks over 6.1 innings pitched for the loss. In his first season with Cincinnati, hurler Eppa Rixey allows seven runs, but only two are earned. He gains his 13th victory with a fine 2.12 ERA.
- FINAL: NYG 7; CIN 8 *12 innings
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GAME #97
Redland Field
Giants Leave Ducks On The Pond; Reds Complete Sweep
The Giants and Reds again go into extra innings, and again the Reds come out on top. However, the McGrawmen should feel fortunate their twin bill loss only cost them one game in the standings. They started the afternoon tied with Pittsburgh and now fall one game back. After four scoreless innings, the Reds score single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. With two outs in the eighth, the Giants string together three consecutive hits, highlighted by Dave Bancroft's two-run double. Starting pitchers Art Nehf and Pete Donohue continue their duel through the ninth and into extra innings. In the top of the eleventh, the Giants again string together three consecutive hits, this time highlighted by Ross Youngs' run-scoring double. With no outs, the Giants then strand two runners in scoring position; High Pockets Kelly grounds to third, Irish Meusel pops foul to third, and Johnny Rawlings flies harmlessly to right field. In truth, therein lies the difference in this game. Cincinnati scores twice in the bottom of the frame to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Art Nehf walks two and yields the decisive hit to left field by Heinie Groh.
- FINAL: NYG 3; CIN 4 *11 innings
- RECORD: 60-37 (.619); second place, 1.0 GB of Pittsburgh
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