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 #107
POLO GROUNDS
Make-Up: 5/6/1921
Brooklyn Bullpen Saves Game One
After playing their last 16 games on the road, the Giants fall to Brooklyn in their series opener at the Polo Grounds. Two errors by George Burns and one each by Dave Bancroft and High Pockets Kelly are Manhattan's undoing. Frankie Frisch opens the scoring with a two-run home run in the third, and George Burns drives home a run in the sixth. All three runs are charged to Robins' starter Dutch Ruether who gets knocked out of the box with no outs in the sixth, not before yielding seven hits and four walks. However, the Giants' bats go silent against the relieving duo of Ferdie Schupp and Sherry Smith, who preserve the victory for Ruether. The Brooklyn tandem allows just four hits and a walk over the final four frames. Left fielder Zack Wheat leads the Robins, going 3 for 4 with a double, triple, and run batted in. First baseman Ray Schmandt also collects three hits.
- FINAL: BRK 5; NYG 3
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GAME #108
POLO GROUNDS
Brooklyn Bullpen Blows Game Two
Ross Youngs triples, driving home two runs in the first inning, but Brooklyn is quick to knot the game in the second. Afterwhich, starting pitchers Ronny Miljus and Jesse Barnes quiet things down through the fifth. The teams again exchanged runs in the sixth. Facing Slim Salle in the top of the seventh, pinch-hitter Bernie Neis gives Brooklyn a 3-2 lead. Ronny Miljus then retires the Giants in order in the bottom half of the frame. When High Pockets Kelly leads off the eighth with a double, Uncle Robbie again summons Sherry Smith into relief duty. Although Smith ends any potential threat, he does not repeat game one's performance. After consecutive leadoff singles by George Burns and Dave Bancroft leading off the ninth, Frankie Frisch grounds into a fielder's choice scoring Burns tying the game at four. With Fred Toney pitching in the eleventh inning, Pete Kilduff homers to left field, but High Pockets Kelly doubles home Frankie Frisch for a five-all tie. The teams continue battling into the 13th inning. Fred Toney strikes out one and commits a harmless error in the top half of the frame. In the home half, Sherry Smith issues a leadoff walk to Dave Bancroft. Frankie Frisch then triples, sending everyone home happy.
- FINAL: BRK 5; NYG 6 *13 innings
- RECORD: 65-43 (.602); second place, 3.5 GB of Cleveland
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GAME #103
Shibe Park
Ruth Hits Number 43; Yankees Regain Share of First Place With Idle Indians
The first stop on the Yankees road trip is the City of Brotherly Love. Babe Ruth doubled home the first run of the game and scored on Bob Meusel's hit back through the middle. Wally Schang drives home a run in the second and another in the third, and with two runners on base, Babe Ruth follows with his 43rd home run this season. Staked to a 7-0 lead, left fielder Tillie Walker seems to figure out starter Bob Shawkey with a home run in the sixth and a run-scoring double in the eighth. But Bob Shawkey holds the A's at three on ten hits and one walks for the win. Coupled with Cleveland's idle schedule, the Yankees reestablish a first-place tie with the Indians.
- FINAL: NYY 7; PHI 3
- RECORD: 64-39 (.621); tied first place with Cleveland
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