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 #94
POLO GROUNDS
Yankees Take Series Finale From Indians; Pull Within One Game of First Place
Waite Hoyt wins his third decision this season against Cleveland, and just as they did a week ago, the Yankees take the series finale and conclude their series one game in the standings behind the Indians. Chick Fewster drives home a run in the second, and Home Run Bakers clouts a two-run home run in the third. Waite Hoyt makes it stand. He allows two runs on eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts for the win. Wally Pipp and Roger Peckinpaugh also drive home runs for the Yankees en route to a 5-2 final score. Jim Bagby takes the loss. For the moment, the embattled Miller Huggins' terms of employment remain in place as the Yankees take two of three from the Indians.
- FINAL: CLE 2; NYY 5
- RECORD: 59-35 (.628); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland
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GAME #98
Redland Field
Giants Salvage Series Split at Redland Field
Staked to a 2-0 lead, Cincinnati starter Cliffe Markle opens with five scoreless innings pitched. High Pockets Kelly drives home New York's first run of the game in the sixth, but the Reds strike back with a run in the bottom half of the frame for a 3-1 lead. Fred Toney yields all three runs on eight hits and one walk through six innings pitched. George Burns helps manufacture a run in the seventh, and Frankie Frisch doubles to center field, plating two for a 4-3 Giants lead. Cliffe Markle surrenders three consecutive hits to load the bases in the top of the ninth, then walks Ross Youngs to force home a run. Facing Slim Salle in the bottom of the frame, Larry Kopf doubles home Pat Duncan. John McGraw wastes no time bringing in Jesse Barnes, who records the final out. Fred Toney earns his first tenth victory this season, but the Giants gain no ground on Pittsburgh.
- FINAL: NYG 5; CIN 4
- RECORD: 61-37 (.622); second place, 1.0 GB of Pittsburgh
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