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 shifted 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 #134
POLO GROUNDS
Rescheduled From Sept. 8, 1921
Bullet Joe Bush Outduels Waite Hoyt
Boston puts a damper on New York's homecoming. Leading off the game, center fielder Nemo Liebold reaches safely on Roger Peckinpaugh's misplay at short. Waite Hoyt walks Eddie Foster, and Mike Menosky's sacrifice bunt moves the runners along. With one out, second baseman Del Pratt doubles them home. Bob Meusel drives home a run in the bottom half of the frame. However, Boston starter Bullet Joe Bush holds the Yankees scoreless over the final eight innings. He limits the Yankees to seven hits with two strikeouts for his 13th win. An error by Wally Pipp leads to another Red Sox run in the fourth. In an otherwise representative effort, Waite Hoyt yields three runs, two earned, on just five hits and one walk with five strikeouts in the loss.
- FINAL: BOS 3; NYY 1
⚾
GAME #135
POLO GROUNDS
Make-Up: 7/1/1921
Bob Meusel Blast Lifts Yanks for Twin Bill Split
Another tightly contested pitching duel unfolds at the Polo Grounds, this time to the crowd's greater satisfaction. All that was required of them was a little patience. Boston once again opens the scoring. Leading off the second, right fielder Shano Collins homers to deep left field off Yankees starter Bill Piercy. Opposed by Boston right-hander Ben Karr, the score remains unchanged through the seventh inning. Despite a stellar effort, Bill Piercy exits on the losing side of a 1-0 game, allowing one run on five hits and two walks. Bob Shawkey hurls a scoreless top half of the eighth in relief of Piercy. The Yankees finally size up Ben Karr's offerings in the bottom half of the frame, striking for five runs on six hits, highlighted by Bob Meusel's three-run home run. Bob Shawkey walks lead-off batter Mike Menosky in the ninth. Afterwhich, the Yankees turn a 6-4-3 double-play. Shawkey records the final out to earn the win in relief of Piercy.
- FINAL: BOS 1; NYY 5
- RECORD: 85-50 (.630); First Place, 1.5 GA of Cleveland
⚾
GAME #139
Ebbets Field
First-Place Giants Embark on Season-Ending Road Trip With Rout of Robins at Ebbets Field
The season's final leg begins. Gotham's first stop is across the East River in Brooklyn, where John McGraw serves Wilbert Robinson one last reminder before leaving town that his reign as defending National League champion is hereby over, if not by league standards, then by his own measure and manner. With their latest defeat coming today at the hands of the Giants, the Robins fall 14.5 games out of first with roughly sixteen games left to play. As such, a crowd of 18,000 at Ebbets Field bears witness to a rout.
The Giants jump to a 5-0 lead before Brooklyn regroups with three runs in the home third. But the Robins would score no more. After yielding a hit and issuing two walks to open the third, John McGraw does not hesitate in replacing Bill Piercy with Fred Toney. All three baserunners would score charged to Piercy. In turn, Fred Toney allows just three hits over seven scoreless innings for the victory. Not yet done, Giant hitters erupt in the sixth for another six runs on seven hits for an 11-3 lead and the final margin of victory.
The catching tandem of Earl Smith and Frank Snyder continue blistering the opposition. Snyder (.317) took his turn today, going 4 for 5 with a double and two runs batted in, giving him forty to date. Meanwhile, Earl Smith is batting .332, with ten home runs and 49 runs batted in, with a .550 slugging average. Said another way, John McGraw is getting marvelously rounded efforts from his two backstops and receivers. Meanwhile, Irish Meusel and Johnny Rawlings continue demonstrating their gratitude toward John McGraw for bringing them into the fold. The two joined for three hits, three runs batted in, and three runs scored. Dave Bancroft lifts his average to .322 by going 3 for 5 with a run batted in, and Bob Meusel drives in his 93rd run this season. The Giants amass twenty hits overall and bat 10 for 21 with runners in scoring position.
For the Giants, they sweep the Robins and extend their consecutive game win streak to six. They widen their lead over the Pirates by a full game as Pittsburgh loses to the Reds at Cincinnati. Next stop: Cincinnati.
- FINAL: NYG 11; BRK 3
- RECORD: 85-54 (.612); First Place, 1.5 GA of Pittsburgh
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