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!
POLO GROUNDS
Bob Meusel Powers Yankees in Opener
It's deuces wild for the Yankees upon their return home as they post pairs of runs in the first, third, and sixth innings en route to a 6-3 victory in Thursday's opening game. Meanwhile, starter Bob Shawkey holds the Sens to three runs on seven hits and three walks with seven strikeouts for the win. Catcher Patsy Gharrity pulls Washington with one in the second. But Shawkey follows with five scoreless innings, then yields two unearned runs in the sixth, resulting from a throwing error by catcher Fred Hofman. Bob Meusel connects on his 17th home run, and with two runs batted, he now boasts 108 this season. Wally Pipp and Fred Hofman making the rare start, each drive in two runs as well. Arguably having his best season to date, Washington veteran George Mogridge takes the loss.
- FINAL: WAS 3; NYY 6
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GAME #123
POLO GROUNDS
Make-Up: 6/28/1921
New Jersey Native Harry Harper Outperforms Walter Johnson; Yanks Sweep Twin Bill
In front of 28,000 fans at Griffith Stadium, a dismayed crowd witnesses New York's seldom if ever utilized left-hander Harry Harper outperform the great Walter Johnson in game two of Thursday's twin bill. Harper allows one run in the visitor's fourth, then keeps Washington scoreless the rest of the way. He yields eight total hits and one walk with three strikeouts for only his second win this season. Second baseman Bucky Harris accounts for the Senators' only run batted in, scoring Sam Rice. In the home fourth, the Yankees string together five consecutive hits for a 3-1 lead. After adding a run in the seventh, the Yankees again erupt for a four-run eighth inning for a commanding 8-1 lead and the final margin of victory. Babe Ruth has now gone nine games without a home run, easily his longest drought this season. This win, coupled with the Indians' extra-inning loss against the Tigers at Detroit, again elevates the Yankees to the top of the American League standings by one full game over Cleveland.
- FINAL: WAS 1; NYY 8
- RECORD: 77-46 (.626); First Place, 1.0 GA of Cleveland
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GAME #129
Ebbets Field
Burleigh Grimes Wins Number Twenty; Brooklyn Halts Giants Win Streak at Eight
The Giants' eight-game win streak comes to an abrupt end in where else but, you guessed it, Brooklyn against Wilbert Robinson and Burleigh Grimes. Despite their double-digit deficit in the standings, the still defending National League champions will not go down lightly, at least not against John McGraw.
Spitballer Burleigh Grimes yields just six hits, three of which occur consecutively, leading off the fifth. The following batter, Earl Smith, lifts a liner to left field caught by Zack Wheat, who throws to third baseman Jimmy Johnston who in turn throws to Ivy Olson at second base to complete a triple play, as both Irish Meusel and Johnny Rawling blunder by straying too far away from their respective bases. Otherwise, Making his 30th appearance this season, Burleigh Grimes holds the Giants scoreless through the first eight innings of play. The Giants spoil the shutout in the ninth, but in truth, Burleigh Grimes needs to look no further than at the infield play behind him. Errors by Ivy Olson at short and second baseman Pete Kilduff tarnish Burliegh's otherwise fine pitching line with an unearned run, just one walk, and four strikeouts for his twentieth victory this season against eight losses with a 3.02 ERA. Since the Pittsburgh series, John McGraw is displaying little to no hesitancy in removing his starters. This game is no different. Fred Toney is relieved upon yielding three runs (two earned) on seven hits over four innings pitched. Slim Salle and Rosy Ryan each surrender a run over the final four innings. Robins' catcher Otto Miller drives home two runs. Hi Myers, Clarence Mitchell, and Burleigh Grimes account for Brooklyn's other runs sent home.
Meanwhile, out in Pittsburgh, the Pirates lose both ends of a doubleheader against the Cardinals at Forbes Field. Thus, the Giants still managed to gain a half-game in the standings.
- FINAL: NYG 1; BRK 5
- RECORD: 78-51 (.605); second place, 1.0 GB of Pittsburg
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