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 #119
POLO GROUNDS
Cardinals Bill Pertica Hurls Second Straight Shutout Against Giants; Fading McGrawmen Fall Season-High 7.5 Game Back
Look what Bill Pertica did to the Giants, again! In four appearances against the Giants this season, Partica now boasts a 3-0 record. In his previous start against New York on Aug. 4 at Sportsman's Park, the Cardinal right-hander limited the Giants to six hits with six strikeouts in a complete-game shutout victory. He limits the Giants to just three hits and five walks with two strikeouts in a second straight complete-game shutout win on Monday. Ross Youngs, Johnny Rawlings, and Rosy Ryan pitching in relief of starter Red Shea account for the Giants only hits. Left fielder Austin McHenry hits a three-run home run as part of a four-run first for St. Louis, and second baseman Rogers Hornsby goes 2 for 4 with a walk, a home run in the sixth, and two runs batted in. Red Shea takes the loss. The Cardinals take a 2-1 lead in the series with one game left to play. With the loss, the Giants fall to 10-12 in August. Coupled with Pittsburgh's victory at Boston, Gotham is now a season-high 7.5 games out of first place with just 35 regular-season games left to play.
- FINAL: STL 6; NYG 0
- RECORD: 70-49 (.588); second place, 7.5 GB of Pittsburgh
⚾
GAME #113
Sportsman's Park
Carl Mays and Bob Meusel Team Together Against Browns; Showdown With Cleveland Next
The Yankees exact a measure of revenge after yesterday's twin bill defeat and salvage a series split here at Sportsman's Park. Starting pitchers Carl Mays and Ray Kolp traded zeroes through the first four innings. St. Louis then seizes a 1-0 lead in the fifth. But it does not last as the Yankees erupt for eight runs in the sixth and single runs in the seventh and eighth innings. St. Louis picks up an inconsequential run in the ninth, quite obviously being too little, too late. Carl Mays yields two runs on seven hits and five walks en route to his 19th win this season against nine losses with an even 3.00 ERA. Bob Meusel leads the Yankees with a home run and four runs batted in, giving him 94 RBI to date. With three hits, Babe Ruth lifts his average to a .380 mark, and Wally Schang continues providing steady contributions, going 2 for 5 with a double and two runs batted in. Next, here we go again, back to Cleveland for a three-game showdown against the Indians who the Yankees trail by less than two games in the standings.
- FINAL: NYY 10; STL 2
- RECORD: 69-44 (.611); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland
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