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 #125
POLO GROUNDS
Babe Ruth Hits Number Fifty, Carl Mays Wins Number Twenty-Two, and Yankees Go Two-Up on the Indians
Washington jumps out to an early lead for the third straight game only to get routed by the Yankees.
Facing Carl Mays in the first inning, Senators' center fielder Sam Rice drives home the game's opening run, and catcher Patsy Gharrity gives the Senators a 2-0 lead in the second. The Yanks get one back in the bottom of the frame when Bob Meusel draws a lead-off walk, advances to second, steals third and scored on Mike McNally's comebacker to Senator's starter Harry Courtney. Matters go awry for the visitors in the third. Harry Courtney yields a lead-off triple to counterpart Carl Mays. After Elmer Miller draws a walk, Roger Peckinpaugh singles home Mays tying the game at two. Still, with no outs, Babe Ruth swats his fiftieth home run this season, giving the Yankees a 5-2 lead and knocking the Senator starter out of the box. Not yet done, Yankees catcher Al DeVormer, subbing for Wally Schang, greets Washington reliever Al Schacht with a two-run single for a 7-2 lead. Carl Mays crosses the plate in the sixth on Elmer Smith's triple, then singles home the Yankees' ninth run in the eighth. With two outs in the visitor's ninth, Carl Mays surrenders a home run to third baseman Howie Shanks. Otherwise, Mays yields three runs on eight hits and four walks for his 22nd win against nine losses with a 2.93 ERA. A rain-dampened crowd of 25,000, particularly those seated in the upper right-field stands, are rewarded for their perseverance with a bit of history. The King of Crash, Babe Ruth, who, last season, became the first player ever to hit fifty home runs in a season, repeats the feat. With 29 games left in the regular season, he is now just four away from tying his own single-season home run record, and, lest we forget, he leads major league baseball with 141 runs batted in. Meanwhile, the Yankees not only sweep the four-game series at the Polo Grounds, but they are also winners of six consecutive games, all at the expense of Washington. With Detroit's victory over the Indians at Navin Field, the Yankees gain another full game in the standings ahead of Cleveland. BOXSCORE: The Standard Union (Brooklyn, NY), Sunday, September 4, 1921
- FINAL: WAS 3; NYY 9
- RECORD: 79-46 (.632); First Place, 2.0 GA of Cleveland
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GAME #130
Ebbets Field
Jesse Barnes Earns Victory at Wet Ebbets Field; Giants Seize Share of First Place
With an impatient Jupiter Pluvius in attendance amongst the 22,000 partisans at Ebbets Field, the Giants perform an about-face after yesterday's loss in handing the Robins an identical 5-1 margin of defeat in a shortened seven-inning affair at the Bedford and Sullivan grounds. Uncle Robbie calls on Dutch Ruether for mound duties and is opposed by Jesse Barnes. Leading off the game, George Burns safely bunt-hits his way on base, advances on Dave Bancroft's double, and scored on Frankie Frisch's fielder's choice to short. Frank Snyder doubles leading off the third, gets bunted over to third by Barnes, and scored on George Burns' sacrifice fly to center field for a 2-0 lead. The Giants scored three more times in the fourth. Jesse Burns does his part by limiting the Robins to just one run on nine hits and no walks for the victory. Ray Schmandt drives home Zack Wheat for Brooklyn's lone score. The Robins bat 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. Irish Meusel goes 2 for 3 with a fourth-inning home run. High Pockets Kelly drives in his 117th run this season, and Jesse Barnes helps his own cause with a hit and one run batted in. The Cardinals and Pirates were washed out at Forbes Field. Thus, the Giants effectively achieve a first-place tie with the Pirates, save for the fractional minutia.
- FINAL: NYG 5; BRK 1
- RECORD: 79-51 (.608); tied for first place with Pittsburgh
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