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 #97
POLO GROUNDS
Game Ends on a Very Bad Decision; Yanks Drop Back to Second Place
Back into second place, they go. After yielding a first-inning run, Waite Hoyt is knocked out of the box in the fourth. Trailing 5-0, the Yankees pull within one of the Tigers in the sixth inning; Chick Fewster drives home Wally Schang, and Babe Ruth follows with a three-run home run, his 39th clout this season. Facing Jack Quinn, the Tigers scored twice in the seventh, and Tiger starter Red Oldham homers in the eighth for an 8-4 Detroit lead. The Yankees again erupt for four runs in the bottom half of the eighth and finally knock Red Oldham out of the box; Home Run Baker triples home two,, then scores on a second consecutive triple by Bob Meusel,, who likewise crosses the plate on Wally Pipp's base hit through the right side. With Bob Shawkey pitching in relief of Jack Quinn, Detroit loads the bases on two hits and an intentional walk. Bob Jones then scores on pinch-hitter Chick Shorten's fielder's choice to short. With runners on the corners and two outs in the home ninth, and Bob Meusel at the plate, pinch-runner Mike McNally is thrown out attempting to steal second base to end the game. The question begging to be asked is, why? Bob Shawkey takes the loss, Waite Hoyt walks off to a no-decision, and Jim Middleton wins in relief.
- FINAL: DET 9; NYY 8
- RECORD: 60-37 (.619); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland
⚾
GAME #103
Cubs Park
Rosy Ryan and Phil Douglas Get Clawed Up By Cubs
The Giants open the last leg of their road trip with yet another loss, this time against Chicago at Cubs Park. After three scoreless frames, New York jumps out to a 3-0 lead. All runs are unearned as a result of two Chicago errors. However, starter Rosy Ryan cannot hold. In the bottom half of the fourth, Ray Grimes drives in a run, and with the bases loaded, catcher Bob O'Farrell connects off Ryan for a grand slam home run. The Giants never fully recover, mustering only a run on Frank Snyder's sacrifice fly in the seventh. Chicago scores twice more in the bottom half of the frame against Phil Douglas in relief of Ryan, who loses after yielding five runs on five hits through four innings pitched. Rookie right-hander Virgil Cheeves earns the win. McGraw's regulars come up empty. However, his reinforcements, Irish Meusel and Johnny Rawlings, each drive in a run apiece. With the loss, the Giants fall below par on the road trip with a 7-8 record with three games left to play. Be sure Mister McGraw will have something to say in all regards.
- FINAL: NYG 4; CHI 7
- RECORD: 62-41 (.602); second place, 3.5 GB of Pittsburgh
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