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.
Enjoy the games ... PLAY BALL!
GAME #128
POLO GROUNDS
Giants Rally Late to Complete Sweep of Cubs; McGrawmen Win Eighth Straight
Chicago right-hander Speed Martin poses a riddle to the Giants. Johnny Rawlings leads off with a hit in the third inning, and Earl Smith draws a walk. Next up, Art Nehf hits into an inning-ending triple play. Speed Martin faces a minimum of 18 batters through the sixth inning and retires 19 of 22 batters through seven. Chicago's Charlie Deal delivers home an unearned run in the first, Charlie Hollocher homers off Art Nehf leading off the third, and Charlie Deal drives home his second run in the fifth for a 3-0 Cub lead. The score remains unchanged through the seventh. That is until the Giants finally solve Charlie Deal with five runs in the eighth highlighted by Casey Stengel's run batted in and a pair of two-run homers off the bats of hot-hitting Earl Smith and Dave Bancroft for a 5-2 lead and the final margin of victory. Art Nehf perseveres for the win, allowing three runs, two earned, on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts for his 17th victory against eight losses with a 3.65 ERA. The Giants complete the sweep of the Cubs and, more importantly, win their eighth consecutive game to recover from a previously subpar month to finish August with an 18-13 record. However, the Pirates defeated the Robins at Ebbets Field, so the Giants at least maintain their standing.
- FINAL: CHI 3; NYG 5
- RECORD: 78-50 (.609); second place, 1.5 GB of Pittsburgh
⚾
GAME #120
Griffith Stadium
Carl Mays Makes Easy Work of the Senators
The Yankees open their series against the Senators with five runs in the first and essentially never look back. Carl Mays takes care of the rest. He yields two runs in the bottom half of the first but does not yield another until the Senators generate one last run in the ninth. Otherwise, only two of three runs allowed are earned, on eight hits and three walks en route to his 21st victory this season. Support was plentiful as the Yankees post a pair of runs in the second and fourth innings and one last run in the fifth. Bob Meusel and Aaron Ward each wield a pair of hits; Meusel drives home three runs, and Ward plates two. Bob Meusel now has 103 runs batted in this season, and with a double, Babe Ruth drives in his 135th of the season. Mike McNally and Roger Peckinpaugh, with four hits, also drive home a run each. The Cleveland Indians were idle and so the Yanks gain one half-game in the standings.
- FINAL: NYY 10; WAS 3
- RECORD: 74-46 (.617); second place, 1.0 GB of Cleveland
