100 Years Ago Today In Brooklyn Semipros 7/31/1921: Alejandro Oms Leads Cuban Stars In Win Over Bushwicks at Dexter Park

From the desk: BROOKLYN SEMIPROS y BEÍSBOL

The Brooklyn Citizen, Monday, Aug 1, 1921

On Thursday, July 31, 1921, one century ago today, the Cuban Stars (East) defeated the Bushwicks at Dexter Park, Woodhaven.

The Brooklyn Citizen, Monday, Aug 1, 1921

The game is tightly contested through the first six innings, with the Stars clinging to a 3-1 lead.  The Cubans score twice in the top of the first but give one back in the bottom half.  Bushwick shortstop Jimmy Irving leads off with a double, and with two outs, scored when third baseman Julián Fabelo and shortstop Pelayo Chacón let a pop-up behind third base fall between them.  The Cuban Stars would make up for their misplay with a run in the third.  

Bushwick starter Ralph Carlstrong holds the Stars at three through the sixth but not without incident.  In receiving a throw while covering first base in the sixth, he has a fingernail nearly torn off on his pitching hand.  He insists on staying in the game and in the top of the seventh proceeds to yield five decisive runs.

After Jimmy Irving's opening hit, Cuban Star starter Oscal does not yield another hit through the seventh.  Bushwich finally strings together three hits in the eighth inning en route to an 8-2 defeat on their home grounds. 

Oscal limits Bushwick to a pair of runs on just five hits and one walk with five strikeouts for the win, while second baseman Tatica Campos supports his pitcher with three great plays on the field.

Harry Holbarrow twirls two scoreless innings to relieve Jimmy Carlstrong, who allows all eight runs on 13 hits and one walk for the loss.

During game two of their scheduled twin bill, the Cuban Stars jump out to another 8-1 lead, but the game is called in the fifth inning due to rain with nary a protest by Bushwick directed at Jupiter Pluvius.

During game one, Cuban Stars' center fielder Alejandro Oms goes 5 for 5 with a double and three runs scored, then wields two more hits in game two, including his second extra-base hit.  Right fielder Isidro Fabré goes 1 for 3 with a sacrifice fly.

The Brooklyn Citizen, Monday,

Aug 1, 1921

OTD Brooklyn Semipros 7/31/1938: Cuban Stars Blank Bay Parkway Dukes at Erasmus Field

From the desk: BROOKLYN SEMIPROS Y BEÍBOL

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Monday, 

August 1, 1921

On Sunday, July 31, 1938, not more than two miles from where I presently live, the Cuban Stars blanked the Bay Parkway Dukes at Erasmus Field, McDonald Avenue at the Avenue M Station along the Culver Line.

GAME ONE - Cuban Stars starter Silvino Ruiz limits the Bay Parkways to just three hits (one for extra bases) and five walks with five strikeouts for the win.  The Dukes pose their only credible threat in the eight when left fielder Johnny McAuliffe's double puts two runners into scoring position.  However, Bay Parkway leaves them both stranded in place.  Duke's starter Abe Spiro surrenders five runs on eleven hits and three walks with two strikeouts through nine in a losing effort.  Stars second baseman Rafael Hechevarría goes 2 for 4 with a double and a run scored, third baseman Clemente Carreras is 1 for 4 with a double and a run scored, and the first baseman Carlos Blanco is 1 for 4 with a stolen base and two runs scored.

GAME TWO: RAINED OUT

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Monday, 

August 1, 1921

Brooklyn Cyclones Split Twin Bill at Jersey Shore

From the desk: THE CONEY ISLAND NINE

CONEY ISLAND vs. JERSEY SHORE; 2-2

I - BK 14; JS 5

II - JS 3; BK 1

III - BK 4; JS 0

IV - JS 3; BK 0

Back on the field after Thursday's rainout, the Cyclones and Blue Claws on Friday evening played two at Jersey Shore.

GAME ONE - Making his tenth start for Brooklyn, right-hander Justin Lasko yields five hits (all singles) and three walks with seven strikeouts over 5.2 scoreless innings pitched for the win.  He faces 23 batters while throwing 95 pitches, with 54 (56.8%) going for strikes.  Right-hander Bryce Montes de Oca continues with 1.1 scoreless innings to complete the shutout.  He allows just one hit and strikes out three to earn his fourth save.  Catcher Francisco Alvarez doubles in the fourth and scores on Zach Ashford's base hit.  In the fifth, LT Struble draws a leadoff walk and eventually scores on a ground ball double-play.  Afterwhich,  Ronny Mauricio connects for his 14th home run this season.  LT Struble again leads off the seventh with a walk, steals second, and scores giving the Cyclones a 4-0 final margin of victory, their eighth in their last nine games. 

GAME TWO - Making only his second start for Brooklyn, 22-year old J.T. Ginn toes the slab and is opposed by Ethan Lindow for the Blue Claws.  Right fielder Jhailyn Ortiz opens the scoring when he tags up from third on a sacrifice fly in the second.  Shortstop Jonathan Guzman leads off the third with a double and scores, and catcher Vito Friscia drives home another giving the Blue Claws a 3-1 lead after the third.  Ethan Lindow sets down Brooklyn in order in the fifth while limiting them to just two hits.  J.T. Ginn also negotiates a scoreless fifth, inducing an inning-ending 5-4-3 double-play.  With only six outs left in the contest, the Cyclones manage just two hits in the ninth, which go for naught when Luis Gonzalez bounces into a rally-killing 5-4-3 double-play.  J.T. Ginn takes the loss upon yielding three runs (two earned) on four hits and no walks with five strikeouts.  Ethan Lindow goes the distance, allowing just four hits and no walks with seven strikeouts for the win.

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/31/1921: Carl Mays Two-Hits Cleveland; Giants Lose Twin Bill at Redland Field

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

BOXSCORE: Sunday, July 31, 1921 - BR

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

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

⚾

GAME #96

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Sunday, July 31, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

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

⚾

GAME #97

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Sunday, July 31, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

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

OTD Brooklyn Semipros 7/30/1939: Bay Parkway Dukes and Homestead Grays Split Games Of A Twin Bill At Erasmus Fied,

From the desk: NEGRO LEAGUE vs. BROOKLYN SEMIPROS

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Monday, July 31, 1939

On Sunday, July 30, 1939, not more than two miles from where I presently live, the local Bay Parkway Dukes and Homestead Grays split games of a doubleheader at Erasmus Field, McDonald Avenue at the Avenue M Station along the Culver Line.

GAME ONE - The visitors take the first tilt by a score of 8 to 2.  Homestead starter Tom Parker limits Bay Parkway to a pair of runs on ten hits and six walks with three strikeouts for the win.  Arlington, the Duke catcher, and Godfrey drive home Bay Parkway's only runs.  Meanwhile, all but shortstop Jelly Jackson hit safely for the Grays, while five batsmen wield multiple hits.  Homestead strikes for 14 total hits.  Playing first base, Josh Gibson is a perfect 3 for 3 with a double, stolen base, and two runs scored, and right fielder David Whatley is 2 for 5 with a stolen base, home run, and two runs batted in.  Joe Stryker relieves McClosky in the sixth but not before the Bay Parkway starter surrenders three runs in the second and four more in the fifth in a losing effort.

Negro National League

HOMESTEAD GRAYS

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Monday, July 31, 1939

GAME TWO - The Dukes and Grays slug their way to a four-all tie after three.  Afterwhich, Bay Parkway starter Abe Spiro settles down to toss four scoreless innings before yielding Homestead's fifth and final run in the eighth.  All told, Spiro allows just eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts for the win.  There was no stopping Josh Gibson, though.  Back behind the plate, Gibson goes 2 for 3 with a double and run batted in.  Gibson completes the twin bill with five hits in six times at-bat.  Grays starting pitcher  Specs Roberts helps his own cause with two runs batted in, which go for naught.  He otherwise surrenders four runs on seven hits, and one walk with a strikeout in only 2.2 innings pitched for the loss.

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/30/1921: All Fingers Pointing At Miller Huggins; Giants Achieve First-Place Tie With Pirates

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!

Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) July 30, 1921

GAME #92

BOXSCORE: Saturday, July 30, 1921 - BR

Cleveland Indians @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Yankees Routed By Cleveland in Series Opener

It's rumored that Yankee ownership is willing to trade upwards of five players to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for second baseman Eddie Collins with designs to make him manager.  However, discussions were seemingly put on hold as it appears Colonel Ruppert decided to extend Miller Huggins one more opportunity during this homestand to prove himself worthy of guiding the club.  Should that, in fact, be the case, Huggins might as well start packing his bags.  Even worse than the 17-8 loss they sustained just over a week ago at Cleveland, the first-place Indians, fresh off a two-hit shutout over Boston, this time clobber the Yankees by a sorrowful score of 16 to 1.  New York manages just seven hits and committed four errors in the field, one by Babe Ruth.  But there is no leering at him this time, for the Bambino accounts for the lone Yankee run, his 37th home run this season to spoil the shutout.  Players are speaking up, as the Yankees played their best ball of late, with Miller Huggins feeling ill and absent from the team.  Fans are likewise not allied with Huggins.  The Yankees are being accused of not having the spirit of a winner.  Players say it's because they don't believe in Huggins and his peculiar style of managing.  Which is to say, the defending World Champion Indians are again leading the league because they believe in Tris Speaker. 1 In the meantime, starter Bob Shawley, Rip Collins, and Alex Ferguson all suffered the wrath of Cleveland's batsmen.  Cleveland's first baseman Doc Johnston goes 3 for 5 with a triple, home run, and an impressive seven runs batted in.  Shortstop Joe Sewell drives home three.  Cleveland starter  Stan Coveleski allows one run on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts for his 17th victory against seven losses and a 3.40 ERA.

 

right - The Ponca City News (Ponca City, Oklahoma), July 30, 1921

1 - The Hutchinson Gazette (Hutchinson, Kansas) July 30, 1921

• FINAL: CLE 16; NYY 1
• RECORD: 57-35 (.620); second place, 3.0 GB of Cleveland

⚾

GAME #94

BOXSCORE GAME ONE: Saturday, July 30, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Make-Up: 6/8/1921

Rube Marquard Hurls A Gem Over Former Mates

Left-hander Rube Marquard shows his old mates he still has what it takes to win, or in this case, defeat the Giants, knowing they're pressing to keep pace with Pittsburgh.  Many believe the Giants boast the top pitching staff in the circuit, even better than Pittsburgh.  But Rube Marquard was having none of it.  He limits the New Yorkers to just one run.  Second base substitute Joe Berry triples home Irish Meusel in the ninth to spoil the shutout.  Otherwise, the Giants wield only six hits and draw just two walks as Marquard wins his tenth game this season.  Starter Fred Toney is knocked out of the box after four innings but not before yielding six runs on ten hits and three walks.  The Giants' most recent win streak comes to an end at four.

• FINAL: NYG 1; CIN 8

⚾

GAME #95

BOXSCORE GAME TWO: Saturday, July 30, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

Jesse Barnes Lifts Giants Into First Place Tie With Pittsburgh

Jesse Barnes and the Giants turn the tables on Cincinnati.  New York scores early, often, and late en route to twelve runs off 18 hits.  Just as the Giants did in game one, Edd Roush and the Reds spoil the shutout with a run in the home ninth.  Jesse Barnes nonetheless wins his ninth, allowing one run on just five hits and no walks through nine complete.  High Pockets Kelly hits his eighth home run of the month, giving him 18 for the season.  His three runs batted in gives him a National League most 96, only two behind Babe Ruth for the major league lead.  Ross Youngs goes 2 for 3 with three runs batted in, giving him 70 for the season.  Today's twin bill split, and Boston's victory over the Pirates leaves Pittsburgh and Gotham tied for first place.  The Giants, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland are the three teams to achieve 60 wins to date.

• FINAL: NYG 12; CIN 1
• RECORD: 60-35 (.632); tied for first place with Pittsburgh

OTD Negro National League 7/29/1935: Newark Dodgers Ride William Bell's Right Arm to Victory Over Visiting Brooklyn Eagles

From the desk: WHERE THE EAGLES LEARNED TO FLY

The Central New Jersey Home News, Tuesday, July 30, 1935

"WILLIAMS' EIGHTH INNING TRIPLE GIVES 

NEWARK DODGERS VICTORY OVER BROOKLYN, 3-2"

On Monday, July 29, 1935, in a scheduled Negro National League match, the host Newark Dodgers defeated the invading Brooklyn Eagles at the local high school stadium.

Facing Newark starter William Bell, the Eagles jump out to an early first-inning lead on center fielder Clarence Griffin's two-run home run, which clears the scoreboard in the right field, with base runner  Tex Burnett for the ride.  

But William Bell yields no more.  The Dodger twirler goes on to toss eight shutout innings, allowing a total of just six hits and two walks with four strikeouts for the win.  

Tex Burnett accounts for two of Brooklyn's six hits, while Griffin, Crush Hollaway, Ed Stone, and Javier Perez account for the rest.  

Losing pitcher, Will Jackman surrenders three runs on eight hits and no walks with a pair of strikeouts.

Left fielder Jim Williams leads Newark, going 2 for 4 with a double, triple, and a run scored. 

The Dodgers push one run across in the second.  Afterwhich, the score remains unchanged through the seventh inning.  With one out in the eighth, Newark's center fielder Paul Arnold singles.  With two outs, third baseman Ray Dandridge beats out a bunt, putting runners on the corners.  Williams then follows with a bases-clearing triple off the outfield wall, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 advantage and the final margin of victory. 

Brooklyn Eagles vs. Newark Dodgers

The Central New Jersey Home News, Tuesday, July 30, 1935

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/29/1921: Giants Pull Within Half-Game of First; Yankees Poised To Host Cleveland

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!

New-York Tribune (New York, New York), Friday, July 29, 1921

GAME CALLED: RAIN

Friday, July 29, 1921

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

NEXT: 7/30/1921

CLEVELAND INDIANS

* *  100 Years Later, in 2021, Cleveland Changes Their Name to the Guardians  * *

⚾

GAME #93

BOXSCORE: Friday, July 29, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ CINCINNATI REDS

Redland Field

With Series Opening Win Over Reds, Giants Pull Within Half-Game Of First Place

In a back and forth affair, the Giants and Reds play to a seven-all tie through nine.  Starting pitchers Rosy Ryan and Cincinnati's Pete Donohue both fail to register even one out.  Donohue faces five batters, allows two hits, issued two walks, and makes an errant throw on Frankie Frisch's attempted sacrifice bunt.  At which point, Manager Moran replaces Donohue with Cliffe Markle.  Ryan is no better.  After Dave Bancroft's error, Ryan allows three straight hits, including a triple by Edd Roush, giving the Reds a 3-2 lead.  Four batters in, Slim Salle, is summoned to relieve Rosy Ryan and yields a fourth run charged to Ryan.  With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the fourth, and Ross Youngs at the bat, catcher Ivy Wingo's errant throw to first base clears the bases, tying the game at five; Cincinnati commits six costly errors overall.  The Reds score in the sixth, but the Giants answer with two in the seventh.  With Slim Salle still toeing the slab in the ninth, second baseman Sam Bohne triples home the game-tying run.  Into extra innings, they go.  In the top of the tenth, the Giants bunch together three hits for a run, and, after another pitching change, Frankie Frisch doubles home two runs giving the Giants a 10-7 lead.  With two outs in the home tenth, Pat Duncan triples to center field, but in his attempt to score is thrown out at home, Ross Youngs, to Johnny Rawlings, to Frank Snyder to end the game.  Slim Salle puts forth a representative effort, allowing three runs on twelve hits and one walk with three strikeouts over tenth innings for the win.  The Giants win their fourth in a row and seven of their last eight in taking the series opener.  Pittsburgh is idle, and thus the Giants gain another half-game in the standings.

• FINAL: NYG 10; CIN 7
• RECORD: 59-34 (.634); second place, 0.5 GB of Pittsburgh

Brooklyn Cyclones Cook Donuts Through Eight; Jersey Shore Evens Series

From the desk: THE CONEY ISLAND NINE

CONEY ISLAND vs. JERSEY SHORE; 1-1

I - BK 14; JS 5

II - JS 3; BK 1

Tide Rolls Out On Coney Island Nine; Jersey Shore Takes Game Two

WINNING STREAK ENDS AT SEVEN

After Tuesday's 14-run onslaught, the Brooklyn Cyclones found themselves beachcombing for runs ... any runs ... one run.  

Brooklyn quite literally stumbled across a run in the very last inning.  With one out, Antoine Duplantis doubles, advances to third, then scored on a balk.  The run brings the Cyclones within two runs of a tie, but there would be no such thing.  Instead, the Jersey Shore experiences a nice breeze as three Cyclone batters whiff to end the game.

A trio of Blue Claw pitchers joins in limiting the Cyclones to one run on eight hits and three walks with 14 strikeouts.  Brooklyn bats just 2 for 14 with runners in scoring position.  The only Cyclone with multiple hits left fielder Joe Suozzi goes 2 for 4 with a triple.

Brooklyn starter Cam Opp can only scratch his head after yielding two unearned runs on six hits and two walks with seven strikeouts through 4.2 innings in a losing effort.  Right-hander Josh Hejka surrendered a home run in the seventh to third baseman McCarthy Tatum.

Once Upon A Summer 7/28/1918: Silk Sox Clout John Donaldson's Offerings; Brooklyn Royal Giants Fall at Doherty's Oval

From the desk: DEM BARNSTORMERS & THE DONALDSON NETWORK

The News (Paterson, New Jersey),

Monday, July 29, 1918

On Sunday, July 28, 1918, the (Paterson) Silk Sox defeated the Brooklyn Royal Giants at Doherty's Oval, Clifton, New Jersey.

"Hard and timely hitting enabled the Silk Sox to defeat the famous Royal Giants of Brooklyn.  The visitors had Donaldson, who is rated as the best colored pitcher in the country, on the firing line, but the locals showed no fear of him.  They clouted his offering to all corners of the lot and won by a score of 9 to 6." - Passaic Daily Herald (Passaic, New Jersey), Monday, July 29, 1918

The Passaic Daily News (Passaic, New Jersey), Monday, July 29, 1918

The Silk Sox score early, often, and late.  Southpaw John Donaldson in the first inning yields two doubles and a single en route to an early 2-0 deficit.  Clifton scores once more in the second and twice in the third for a 5-0 lead.  Afterwhich, left fielder Howard Lohr homers off Donaldson in the fifth.  

Meanwhile, Sox starter Jimmy Clinton holds the Royal Giants scoreless through the sixth. 

Brooklyn, in the top of the seventh inning, finally registers a run.  With one out, center fielder Tom Fiall lashes a single, steals second base, and scores on a misplay by Peploski, the Sox third baseman. 

Clifton extends their lead against Donaldson to 7-1 in the bottom half of the frame.

With two outs and two on in the top of the eighth, John Donaldson singles home only the Royal Giants' second run of the game.  But the Sox answer yet again with two more runs in the home eighth.  This time Donaldson threw errantly in an attempted pick-off at first, allowing a run to score.  He nonetheless allows three hits, including a double by Jimmy Clinton before the frame is through.

Brooklyn appears to awaken from their slumber in the ninth, but as they say, it's too little too late.  A four-run outburst highlighted by Oliver Marcell's (Wadell) two-run single and John Henry Lloyd's two-run double all goes for naught.

Silk Sox starter Jimmy Clinton holds the Giants to six late runs on eleven hits (only one for extra bases) and two walks with three strikeouts for the win.

John Donaldson has certainly had better days.  The local hosts offer no quarter.  Donaldson yields nine runs on 16 hits (seven for extra bases) and two walks with three strikeouts in a losing effort.  Sixteen hits are the most rendered in one game by Donaldson in a Royal Giant uniform.  He has now yielded 40 hits over his last three starts and 27 innings pitched.

"... the Sox managed to emerge the victors despite the fact that the visitors had Donaldson, the world's best colored pitcher, on the mound for them." - The News (Patterson, New Jersey), Monday, July 29, 1918

The Morning Call (Paterson, New Jersey), Monday, July 29, 1918

BROOKLYN ROYAL GIANTS

ONCE UPON A SUMMER, 1918: JOHN DONALDSON'S LONE SEASON WITH THE BROOKLYN ROYAL GIANTS

• 6/28 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Acquire Midwest Pitching Great, John Donaldson
• 6/30 - John Donaldson Loses Brooklyn Royal Giants Debut To New York Lincoln Giants
• 7/3 - John Donaldson Poised To Make Brooklyn/Queens Debut At Dexter Park
• 7/4 - John Donaldson Twirls Shutout Over Cuban Stars In Dexter Park Debut
• 7/7 - Joe Williams Wins Second Straight Decision Over John Donaldson; Lincoln Giants and Royal Giants Split Twin Bill
• 7/13 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Defeat Glendale at Farmer's Oval, Queens
• 7/14 - John Donaldson Defeats Bushwick; Royal Giants Split Twin Bill At Dexter Park
• 7/15 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Take Series Opener From Atlantic City Bacharach Giants
• 7/16 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Take Game Two from Bacharach Giants; John Donaldson Earns The Victory
• 7/17 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Wrap Up Series With Bacharach Giants at Atlantic City
• 7/18 - N.Y. Ship League Team Defeat Brooklyn Royal Giants at Camden, New Jersey
• 7/21 - Cuban Stars Double-Up Brooklyn Royal Giants; John Donaldson Takes Loss at Dexter Park
• 7/24 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Bow To Stan Baumgartner and Bethlehem Steel at Allentown, PA
• 7/27 - Brooklyn Royal Giants Defeat Camp Dix Soldiers

LHP - JOHN DONALDSON'S STARTS w/ BROOKLYN:

1. 6/30/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 2 runs, 7 hits, 2 W, 2K (Lincoln Giants; Olympic Field)
2. 7/4/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 0 RUNS, 5 hits, 1 W, 6K (Cuban Stars; Dexter Park)
3. 7/7/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 3 runs, 9 hits, 2 W, 2K (Lincoln Giants; Olympic Field)
4. 7/14/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 1 run, 7 hits, 1 W, 5K (Bushwick; Dexter Park)
5. 7/16/1918 - (W) 9 innings, 4 runs, 14 hits, (?)W, 6K* (Atlantic City; Bacharach Park)
6. 7/21/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 6 runs, 10 hits, 4 W, 1 K (Cuban Stars; Dexter Park)
7. 7/28/1918 - (L) 9 innings, 9 runs, 16 hits, 2 W, 3 K (Silk Sox, Doherty's Oval, N.J.)

• LINE: 63 innings, 25 runs, 68 hits, 12 walks, 25 strikeouts, 3.57 ERA

 

BEDFORD & SULLIVAN PODCAST:

Restoring Baseball Great John Donaldson's Lost Legacy With Negro Leagues Historian and Founder of The Donaldson Network, Peter Gorton.

Minnesota native Peter Gorton leads a group of historians dedicated to discovering the lost legacy of John Wesley Donaldson.  In this episode, we discuss the man, baseball career, and life of one of the more incredible and inspiring athletes to ever play the game, and how his amazing legacy became lost to a nation, most particularly Baseball's Hall of Fame.  

Original airdate: March 13, 2021

Brooklyn Cyclones Crash Upon Jersey Shore Like a Tidal Wave; Extend Win Streak To Seven

From the desk: THE SURF AVENUE SLUGGERS

CONEY ISLAND leads JERSEY SHORE; 1-0

I - BK 14; JS 5

It was high tide at Jersey Shore as wave after wave of Brooklyn youth crossed home plate.

Tuesday's series opener begins innocently enough.  Starting behind the plate, Francisco Alvarez singles home Edgardo Fermin in the first, and Blue Claw left fielder Jhailyn Ortiz homers in the second off Cyclone starter Jaison Vilera. 

Typical stuff ...

Brooklyn then scores twice in the third.  Left fielder Joe Suozzi scores from third on a fielder's choice, and Francisco Alvarez drives home his second run.  Afterwhich Jeremy Vasquez homers, leading off the fourth,

... and then the rout begins.

The Cyclones post five runs in the fifth, but Jersey Shore answers with four in the bottom half of the frame.  Jaison Vilera is removed after five runs on seven hits, and no walks with three strikeouts through 4.2 innings.  Right-hander Hunter Parsons takes over mound duty.  Not yet done, the Blankmeyers tack on four more runs in the sixth for a more comfortable 13-5 lead.  Both Edgardo Fermin and Ronny Mauricio hit a pair of home runs respectively in the fifth and sixth innings.

Right-hander Connor O'Neil climbs the bump in the seventh in relief of Parsons and proceeds to throw two scoreless innings of no-hit ball with three strikeouts.

Jersey Shore throws one away in the eighth when Jeremy Vasquez scores on a wild pitch.

Brian Metoyer throws a scoreless ninth to close out the Cyclones' seventh consecutive victory and the first in the series against the Blue Claws.

Edgardo Fermin drives in five of Brooklyn's 14 runs.  Hunter Parsons earns the win.

• BOXSCORE

100 YEARS AGO AT THE POLO GROUNDS 7/28/1921: Waite Hoyt Hurls Gem Over Browns; Giants Take Series From First-Place Pirates

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 #91

BOXSCORE: Thursday, July 28, 1921 - BR

St. Louis Browns @ NEW YORK YANKEES

POLO GROUNDS

Waite Hoyt Hurls Gem Against St. Louis Browns

Leave it up to the kid from Brooklyn to show 'em how it's done.  The Yankees rebound from yesterday's defeat to tie their series with St. Louis at one.  Browns' starter Dixie Davis comes apart like wet paper in the third inning, yielding four runs on four hits, two walks, and a wild pitch.  In his first season with the Yankees, Erasmus High School graduate Waite Hoyt, undeniably having his finest campaign to date, makes it stand, limiting the Browns to just four scattered hits and four walks with five strikeouts over nine scoreless innings for his twelfth win against eight losses with a 3.25 ERA.  In fact, Hoyt drives in the first and decisive run for the Yankees.  Babe Ruth delivers home two runs giving him a major league-leading 97 RBI, and Bob Meusel goes 3 for 4 with two runs batted in.  St. Louis Browns' first baseman  George Sisler sat out his fourth straight game with an injury.

• FINAL: STL 0; NYY 6
• RECORD: 57-34 (.626); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland 

⚾

GAME #92

BOXSCORE: Thursday, July 28, 1921 - BR

New York Giants @ PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Forbes Field

Giants Take Three of Four Against the First-Place Pirates

The Giants have their say in Pittsburgh and punctuate their departure with a four-run rally in the ninth.  New York opens the scoring in the second; High Pockets Kelly scores on a Johnny Rawlings sacrifice fly, and Rabbit Maranville's misplay at short leads to a second run.  However, the Pirates struck for three runs on five hits in the third, inspiring John McGraw to remove starter Jesse Barnes in favor of Phil Douglas, who ends the threat.  That is until Max Carey gives Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead in the fourth.  The score remains unchanged through the eighth.  Pirates' rookie Whitey Glazner returns to the hill for the top of the ninth and promptly issues a walk to Earl Smith.  Consecutive hits by Eddie Brown and George Burns load the bases.  Pinch-runner Bill Cunningham scores on Dave Bancroft's fly to left field.  Frankie Frisch then cleared the bases with a double to center field and scored on second baseman George Cutshaw's errant throw.  Rosy Ryan is called upon to close out the ninth and retires the Bucs in order.  Max Carey ends the game on a pop-up to Dave Bancroft.  This gives the Giants three straight wins against the Pirates and a 3-1 series victory.  McGraw's Men are now just two games out of first place.

• FINAL: NYG 6; PIT 4
• RECORD: 58-34 (.626); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland