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 previous 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 #146
POLO GROUNDS
George Uhle Hurls Gem; Cleveland Reclaims Share of First Place
The page is turned. We've reached the point in this tale where Harry Harper's offerings turn into pumpkins. They appeared as big and sweet to the heavy-hitting Cleveland Indians. A hero to Miller Huggins and the Yankees throughout their September run, the New Jersey native fails to pitch his way out of the fourth. Cleveland opens with an unearned run in the third. Left fielder Joe Evans singles through the middle, but Elmer Miller's error in centerfield allows mound opponent George Uhle to score all the way from first base. In the visitor's fourth, Harper yeilds a double and issued two walks, loading the bases. He then walks George Uhle to force in a run, and Joe Evans follows with a bases-clearing double. Miller Huggins dispatches Harry Harper to the showers in favor of Bob Shawekey, who fares no better. Shawkey allows four runs on six hits and two walks over the final 5.2 innings. A crowd of 10,000 sits in silence as young George Uhle limits the Yankees to just four scattered hits in a complete-game shutout effort. Roger Peckinpaugh, Babe Ruth who is playing with an injured wrist, Mike McNally, and Shawkey account for the Yankees only hits, none for extra bases. Only one Yankee gets as far as third base. Harry Harper yields five runs on three hits and six walks over 3.1 innings for the loss. Cleveland and the Yankees are again tied for first place.
- FINAL: CLE 4; NYY 0
- RECORD: 92-54 (.630); First Place, tied with Cleveland
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GAME #148
Sportsman's Park
Giants Loss at St. Louis Leaves Door Open For Pittsburgh
Through the graces of Gotham, there remains a chance for Pittsburgh. With their victory over Philadelphia at Forbes Field and the Giants series-opening loss at St. Louis, the Pirates close with 2.5 games of McGraw's men. Facing Fred Toney, the Cardinals promptly tally three in the first inning. The Giants rally back and overtake the Cardinals with a run in the second and three in the third. But when St. Louis threatens again in the home third, John McGraw pulls Toney in favor of Jesse Barnes who limits the Cardinals to one run. Tied at four apiece, the Cardinals go on to double their output with a run in the home fourth, two in the sixth, and one more in the seventh en route to an 8-4 victory. Last year's 20-game winner Bill Doak holds the Gianst to four runs (only one earned) on nine hits and one walk with five strikeouts for the win. Only Irish Meusel could decode Uhle's offerings with four hits including a triple in four trips to the plate. With a hit in three trips, Cardinal second baseman Rogers Hornsby drives home his 117th run and holds steady with a .402 batting average. High Pockets Kelly drives in a run giving him 132 this season.
- FINAL: NYG 4; STL 8
- RECORD: 91-57 (.615); First Place, 2.5 GA of Pittsburgh
"Smiling James" Mutrie, who once owned the Polo Grounds, owned the Giants, nicknamed them, managed them, and won two pennants with them, today at 77 years smiles as of old and follows "his" Giants in the sports pages.
"The first game I ever put on in New York was in 1880 when John B. Day and I started the Mets. It was played on the old Polo grounds at 110th street and Fifth avenue. Two thousand persons came out to watch us play - that was a great gathering. When I came to New York in 1880 I walked the streets for weeks trying to convince somebody that baseball was a paying proposition. Finally, Mr. Day believed in me and we started the game in old New York. Just look at the game here today. Yes, sir, and I started it." - James Mutrie.
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