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 #143
POLO GROUNDS
Harry Harper Tames Tigers; Yanks Bounce Back Atop Circuit
Pressure? What pressure? New Jersey native Harry Harper again comes through for an anxiety-riddled Miller Huggins. Making just his sixth appearance, the southpaw earns his third win in four September starts. Facing Detroit's Bert Cole, the Yankees strike for three runs in the fourth. Harry Harper makes them stand, allowing two late runs in the seventh and ninth innings, on eight hits with four strikeouts for the win. The Yankees added a run in the sixth en route to a 4-2 final score. Bob Meusel and Aaron Ward drive home two runs each. Cleveland falls to the Red Sox at Fenway Park, so the Highlanders retake a half-game lead over the Indians. After their series finale with Detroit, the Yankees host the defending champion Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds one last time. Cleveland is 13-7 in September, while the Yankees boast a 15-7 record. The upcoming series victor is very likely to go on and secure the American League pennant.
- FINAL: DET 2; NYY 4
- RECORD: 90-53 (.629); First Place, 0.5 GA of Cleveland
⚾
GAME #146
Cubs Park
Giants Fall in Tenth at Cubs Park; First Place Lead Shrinks to Three
Facing the great Grover Cleveland Alexander, the Giants jump out to a 3-0 in the second inning on four consecutive two-out base hits. Chicago scores twice against Jesse Barnes in the third, then pounces for four runs in the fifth, highlighted by Ray Grimes' leadoff home run for a 6-3 lead. But the Giants claw back with two runs in the seventh and High Pockets Kelly homers in the eighth, tying the game at six. Jesse Barnes is pulled after 4.2 innings pitched, having allowed six runs on ten hits. Red Shea throws 1.1 scoreless innings, and Slim Salle pitches a scoreless seventh. Afterwhich, Art Nehf hurls a scoreless eighth and ninth frame, and into extra innings, they go at Cubs Park. In his third inning in relief of Alexander, Virgil Cheeves retires the Giants in order during the visitor's tenth. In the home half, leadoff batter John Sullivan safely reaches on Frankie Frisch's errant throw to first base. Ray Grimes swaps places with Sullivan on a fielder's choice, then advances to second on a wild pitch by Art Nehf. Catcher Bob O'Farrell promptly follows with a single up the middle, driving home the winning run. The idle Bucs, therefore, gain one-half game on the present National League leaders. McGraw's men are now 6-2 on this road trip with seven games left with which to protect their precarious lead. After Friday's finale with Chicago, the Giants must still trek through St. Louis and Philadelphia, then finally back within city limits to Brooklyn for the last scheduled game of the regular season.
- FINAL: NYG 6; CHI 7 10 innings
- RECORD: 90-56 (.616); First Place, 3.0 GA of Pittsburgh
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