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 #144
POLO GROUNDS
Jack Quinn and Aaron Ward Help Yankees Reforge First Place Tie With Indians
Bob Shawkey gets knocked out of the box after issuing a bases-loaded walk in the second and yielding four runs on five hits in the third. Miller Huggins quickly replaces Shawkey with Jack Quinn, who holds the Tigers scoreless over the final 6.1 innings. Meanwhile, the Highlanders take Shawkey off the hook. Aaron Ward homers in the second. Wally Schang led off the third with a triple to right and scored on a misplay by second baseman Ralph Young, and Jack Quinn aids his cause with a home run to left field. Aaron Ward triples home two runs in the fourth, and Wally Schang delivers Ward with a double giving the Yankees a 6-5 lead they would not surrender. Babe Ruth scores on a passed ball in the fifth. Afterwhich, the Yankees pile on with four runs in the sixth and one in the seventh for good measure. Center fielder Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth each are held hitless in five times at-bat. The heavy lifting is left to Aaron Ward, Elmer Smith, and winner Jack Quinn. Cleveland defeated the Red Sox in extra innings, leaving the Yankees and Indians tied for first place. The defending champions and the Yankees will open a decisive four-game series here tomorrow.
- FINAL: DET 5; NYY 12
- RECORD: 91-53 (.632); First Place, tied with Cleveland
TRAVEL DAY
Next Game: Friday, September 23, 1921
Sportsman's Park
Brooklyn and Pittsburgh split games of a doubleheader at Forbes Field. The Giants lead over the Pirates remains pat at four games. New York has six games remaining, while Pittsburgh has the advantage of having nine games left on their schedule.
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