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 #115
POLO GROUNDS
Dog Days of Summer Continue Knawing Away at McGrawmen's Pennant Aspirations
Toeing the slab for Gotham, Phil Douglas is opposed by Cuban native Dolf Luque for Cincinnati. Both put forth representative efforts. Support from his batsmen is what Douglas lacks. In the meantime, the Reds incrementally build a modest lead with single runs in the second, then the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings for a 4-1 lead through eight. The Giants scored their first run back in the fifth on Irish Meusel's triple and Johnny Rawling's sacrifice fly. In the top of the ninth, reliever Slim Salle retires the Reds in an orderly manner. Still facing Dolf Luque in the home ninth, Frankie Frisch's double and Ross Youngs' hit positions runners at the corners. High Pockets Kelly follows with a comebacker snatched by Luque, who then throws out Frisch at home. With two runners still in scoring position, McGraw's savvy pickup Irish Meusel clears the bases with a hit to right field. But the Giants threat ends there. Dolf Luque regroups to retire Bill Cunningham and Earl Smith to close out Cincinnati's 4-3 victory and even the series at one. McGraw's men fall to 8-10 in August. The loss coupled with Pittsburgh's doubleheader sweep at Philadelphia pushes the Giants away to a season-high 6.5 games back of the Pirates.
- FINAL: CIN 4; NYG 3
- RECORD: 68-47 (.591); Second place, 6.5 GB of Pittsburgh
⚾
GAME #108
Comiskey Park
White Sox Even Series With Yankees; Red Farber Wins Number 23
In a rather entertaining back and forth affair, that is, for the locals, the White Sox rally late to lift starter Red Farber to his 23rd victory this season against ten losses with a 2.40 ERA. The teams traded single runs in the first inning, then exchanged a pair of runs in the fourth. The White Sox claim their first lead with a run in the sixth, but the Yankees roar back on Babe Ruth's three-run home run in the top of the seventh. Then with the Giants leading 6-4, Carl Mays retires the Reds in order in the home seventh. Red Farber returns the gesture retiring the Yankees in the top half of the eighth. But Mays appears to lose effectiveness in the bottom half of the frame, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks before being replaced by Waite Hoyt, who brings Chicago's threat to an end, albeit too late. In the midst of arguably his best season, Red Farber tosses a scoreless ninth to close out the White Sox series-tying victory. Wally Schang goes 2 for 4 with a double and two runs batted in. The Bambino drives home four runs giving him 125 RBI to date. His home run is career number 149, leaving him shy of 150 and undoubtedly many more to follow. Out in Cleveland, Philadelphia defeated the Indians, and so the Yankees lose no ground.
- FINAL: NYY 6; CHI 7
- RECORD: 67-41 (.620); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland
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