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.
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 #102
POLO GROUNDS
Babe Ruth Hits Number 41; Yankees Take Series From White Sox
The Yankees crush three home runs en route to a resounding 14-8 triumph in Wednesday's finale and win their series with Chicago three games against two. New York leads 9-0 after four innings highlighted by home runs from Home Run Baker and Babe Ruth and three runs batted in by Frank Snyder. The White Sox plate five runs in the fifth, including Yankee killer Johnny Mostil's two-run home run, but two runs are unearned due to Roger Peckinpaugh's error at short. Despite three more late runs by the White Sox, the Yankees ensure victory with a three-run sixth and two more runs in the seventh for a six-run margin of victory. Right fielder Amos Strunk drives home three runs for Chicago, and Ernie Johnson leads the team with three hits. The Yankees let no White Sox hurler go unscathed while mounting 15 total hits. Home Run Baker goes 3 for 3 with five runs batted in. Babe Ruth hits home run number 41, and with three runs batted in, now has a major league-high 111 to date. Starting for the Highlander, Rip Collins is good enough, allowing seven earned runs on ten hits and three walks for the win. The Yankees close out their homestand with a 7-6 record. They now embark on a 19-game road trip, including a three-game set at Cleveland. In the meantime, coupled with Cleveland's loss at Philadelphia, the Yanks gain a full game on the Indians.
- FINAL: CHI 8; NYY 14
- RECORD: 63-39 (.618); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland
⚾
TRAVEL DAY
NEXT: Thursday, August 11, 1921
POLO GROUNDS
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