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 #116
POLO GROUNDS
Giants Take Rubber Game Against Cincinnati Reds; First Place Pirates Split Twin Bill at Philadelphia
John McGraw has a problem. The Giants have seen their deficit in the standings grow like an untamed garden weed under the hot August sun. And therein lies the rub: if weeds were hard to grow, everyone would want them. In the business of baseball, turnstiles tell the true story. Consider if you will a team formerly tied for first place but now in a steady decline with only 3,000 fans bearing the witness on a Friday afternoon in New York City. Meanwhile, the Highlanders, unwelcome tenants of the Polo Grounds, during their most recent homestand averaged just over 19,000 fans per game - a big problem, indeed. It's pennants the people want. To that effect, the Giants, in a decisive fashion, take Friday's rubber game against the Reds for the moment curtailing their freefall at six games back. McGraw's men press starter Eppa Rixey for three runs in the first, then lower the hammer with four runs in the second, highlighted by two runs batted in each by Dave Bancroft and High Pockets Kelly. Staked to a 7-2 lead after two, Jesse Barnes yields one last run in the fifth. Irish Meusel drives home High Pockets Kelly in the home half of the fifth for an 8-3 lead and the final margin of victory. Jesse Barnes surrenders three earned runs on twelve hits and one walk with four strikeouts for the win. He improves his record to 11-7 with a 2.83 ERA. Veteran Eppa Rixey takes the loss. High Pockets Kelly drives home three runs giving him 110 for the season. Down in Philadelphia, the Pirates and Phillies split games of a doubleheader. And don't look now, but third-place Boston trails the Giants by a mere 2.5 games.
- FINAL: CIN 3; NYG 8
- RECORD: 69-47 (.595); second place, 6.0 GB of Pittsburgh
⚾
GAME #109
Comiskey Park
Yanks Bow in Rubber Game; Chicago Stars Shine Just a Little Brighter
Chicago offers New York pitchers no quarter. Much maligned Miller Huggins dispatches four different moundsmen, none exit unscathed. Starter Rip Collins surrenders two in just two innings, and Jack Quinn is treated likewise. Losing pitcher Bill Piercy sustains the most damage, yielding six runs on five hits and two walks in just 1.1 innings pitched. The last Highlander to climb the hill performs best, with Alex Ferguson surrendering one run on six hits over the final 2.2 innings. Center fielder Amos Strunk leads Chicago with four hits and four runs batted in. Second baseman Eddie Collins and catcher Ray Schalk each drive in three runs. Right fielder Harry Hooper is 3 for 6 with two runs scored and one batted in. White Sox starter Shovel Hodge goes the distance, allowing nine earned runs on 15 hits and six walks in an agreeably bloated nine-inning winning effort. Babe Ruth and Home Run Baker drive home two runs each, and Bob Meusel drives home run number ninety. Despite batting 10 for 17 with runners in scoring position, the Yankees nevertheless fall to the White Sox, winners of the series two games against one.
- FINAL: NYY 9; CHI 13
- RECORD: 67-42 (.615); second base, 1.0 GB of Cleveland
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