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 #98
POLO GROUNDS
Rip Collins Holds White Sox To One Hit, Jupiter Pluvius Takes Care of the Rest
Wally Pipp doubles home Babe Ruth in the fourth, and with one out in the fifth, new acquisition Elmer Miller singles home Wally Schang then advances all the way to third on Johnny Mostil's misplay in center field. Next in, Wally Pipp then grounds to third, and Miller is thrown out at home while attempting to score. Afterwhich, the Polo Grounds rattle at the clap of thunder, and the gathering storm clouds empty upon Gotham. The game is nevertheless official. Thus, Rip Collins is credited with hurling a gem, allowing no runs on just one hit and two walks with two strikeouts through five innings for the win. The Yankees finally defeat Red "Urban" Faber, who owned a 3-0 record this season against New York before today's contest.
- FINAL: CHI 0; NYY 2 *five innings; rain
- RECORD: 61-37 (.622); second place, 0.5 GB of Cleveland
GAME #104
Cubs Park
Giants Defeat Pete Alexander; Even Series at Cubs Park
McGraw's men change their recent fortunes for the better with a victory over the great Grover Alexander in game two at Cubs Park. Trailing 2-0 after three, the Giants post three runs in the fourth, and starter Jesse Barnes makes it stand. The Giants scored once in the sixth and twice more in the eighth for good measure. Ross Youngs drives in one run, Frankie Frisch drives home two, High Pockets Kelly goes 3 for 3 with his 19th home and two runs batted in, giving him a National League-leading 101 this season. Grover Cleveland Alexander allows seven runs (six earned) on twelve hits and only one walk in a losing effort. Jesse Barnes yields two runs on 14 hits and one walk for his tenth win against six losses with a 2.78 ERA. Pittsburgh was idle and so the Giants gain one half-game in the standings.
- FINAL: NYG 7; CHI 2
- RECORD: 63-41 (.606); second place, 3.0 GB of Pittsburgh
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