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 #99
POLO GROUNDS
Make-Up: 6/17/1921
Bob Shawkey Hurls Four-Hit Shutout
In a redemptive effort, Bob Shawkey turns in what is easily his finest performance this season. He allows just four hits but walks six with three strikeouts over nine shutout innings for the win. Home Run Baker drives home the first Yankee run with a single in the first, and in the third, Babe Ruth and Baker hit consecutive home runs giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead. Not yet done, Home Run Baker in the fourth drives in his third run of the game. Wally Pipp knocks home a run in the seventh, and Roger Peckinpaugh closes out the scoring with a base hit in the eighth, plating Bob Shawkey. For Babe Ruth, it was home run number forty.
- FINAL: CHI 0; NYY 7
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GAME #100
POLO GROUNDS
Babe Ruth Hits Number 41 to No Avail; White Sox Salvage Twin Bill Split
The White Sox outpace the Yankees to gain a twin bill split. With Waite Hoyt making his 27th appearance this season, errors in the first inning by Roger Peckinpaugh at short and Babe Ruth in left field clear the way for three Chicago runs. The Yankees are hard-pressed to recover. Facing Dickey Kerr, a 21-game winner last season, Babe Ruth launches a solo home run in the bottom half of the frame. After Chicago adds a run in the third, Roger Peckinpaugh drives Hoyt home with New York's second run. Wally Schang, with a hit in the fourth, brings the Yankees within one. But Chicago catcher George Lees officially puts the game out of reach in the top half of the eighth as the Yankees are handed a run in the bottom half of the frame on a wild pitch and fielding error by Ernie Johnson at short. With the loss, Waite Hoyt falls to 13-9 with a 3.31 ERA.
- FINAL: CHI 5; NYY 4
- RECORD: 62-38 (.620); second place, 1.5 GB of Cleveland
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GAME #105
Cubs Park
Giants Late Surge Helps Art Nehf Earn Win Number Fourteen
Trailing 3-0 after six, the Giants finally snap out of their doldrums in the seventh with a four-run outburst, then with two insurance runs in the ninth secure victory. Art Nehf bends but doesn't break. He yields single runs in the first, third, and fourth innings, but the Cubs would score no more. Nehf allows ten hits and no walks for the win. He improves to 14-6 with a 3.64 ERA. Speed Martin of the Cubs takes the loss. Johnny Rawlings continues expressing his gratitude and appreciation for Mister McGraw with two hits and two runs batted in. George Burns goes 2 for 5 with a double and two runs driven home. Frank Snyder also wields two hits and drives home one. Coupled with Brooklyn's victory over the Pirates at Forbes Field, the Giants gain one full game in the standings.
- FINAL: NYG 6; CHI 3
- RECORD: 64-41 (.610); second place, 2.0 GB of Pittsburgh
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