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 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!
WORLD SERIES
POLO GROUNDS
Waite Hoyt Again Dominates Giants in Game Five; Yankees Seize 3-2 Series Advantage
In a rematch of Game Two, Waite Hoyt toes the rubber opposed by Art Nehf.
The only difference being the Giants open the scoring for the first time this series.
Leading off the home first, George Burns reaches safely on Mike McNally's misplay at third. After Burns trades places with Dave Bancroft on a forceout at second, Frankie Frisch singles, and Ross Youngs draws a walk to load the bases. High Pockets Kelly follows with a single to center; all runners advance one base. Waite Hoyt bears down to strike out Irish Meusel, then escapes further damage by retiring Johnny Rawlings on a bouncer to second.
Bob Meusel leads off the visitor's second with a single to right, then advances to second base on Wally Pipp's sacrifice bunt. As Aaron Ward swings at strike three, Bob Meusel takes off for third, but Frankie Frisch can't handle Earl Smith's throw. Meusel mistakenly dashes towards home and is thrown out, Frisch to Smith.
A bit of basepath manipulation in the home second is thwarted by the Yankees. With two outs, George Burns lays down a bunt for a hit. Dave Bancroft then lines a base hit to right field. Bob Meusel throws to Wally Pipp, who traps Bancroft in a rundown. From Pipp to Ward and back to Pipp, but when Pipp throws back to second base, Meusel takes off for home and is thrown out, Roger Peckinpaugh to Wally Schang.
Mike McNally draws a walk leading off the Yankee third, followed by Wally Schang's double to left. The runners hold on Waite Hoyt's grounder to short, but the game-tying run scores on Elmer Miller's flyball to center field.
Hoyt escapes more trouble in the bottom half of the third. With one out and a runner at first, High Pockets Kelly strikes out looking. Irish Meusel then doubles to left, with Ross Youngs pulling up at third. But Hoyt retires Johnny Rawlings on a pop-foul to third.
An ailing Babe Ruth leads off the fourth with a perfectly placed bunt down the third baseline for a hit. Bob Meusel follows with a double to left field, scoring Ruth all the way from first. Meusel advances to third on Pipp's grounder to second. Aaron Ward's flyball to center then scores Meusel for a 3-1 Yankees lead.
Earl Smith draws a walk leading off the Giant fourth. With one out and George Burns at the bat, the Yankees execute a strikeout, caught stealing, double-play, Wally Schang to Aaron Ward.
Afterwhich, neither lineup poses any threats through the seventh.
Another Giant rally is thwarted in the eighth. Ross Youngs singles with one out. High Pockets Kelly follows with a hit to right but is thrown out trying to leg out a double, Bob Meusel to Aaron Ward. With Ross Youngs at third, Waite Hoyt induces Irish Meusel into a pop-foul to Wally Pipp.
Art Nehf retires the Yankees in order in the top of the ninth. Johnny Rawlings then leads off the home half with a double to left field. Earl Smith pops up to second base forcing Rawlings to stay in place. Waite Hoyt then strikes out both pinch-hitter Frank Snyder and George Burns to end the game.
Coming off a two-hit masterpiece in Game Two, the Brooklynite out of Erasmus High School holds the Giants scoreless through the final eight innings. He otherwise allows one unearned run on ten hits and two walks with six strikeouts for his second win. He has now pitched eighteen innings this series without allowing an earned run.
Meanwhile, the Giants strand nine runners on base and bat 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Hoyt is supported by the stellar defense in the field, cutting the aggressive Giants off at every pass with a key double-play, two outfield assists by Bob Meusel, Peckinpaugh's throw home, and no stolen bases against the arm of Wally Shang.
Babe Ruth continues to play against the doctor's orders. Compromised by an infected elbow, the Bambino struck out three times but still somehow managed to factor in the victory. His fourth-inning bunt resulted in scoring the game's decisive run. However, Ruth's availability moving forward still remains in question.
Art Nehf is once again outdueled by Hoyt. The Giant southpaw allows three earned runs on just six hits and one walk with five strikeouts in another tightly contested loss.
Wally Schang and Bob Meusel continue doing the heavy lifting for Miller Huggins. Out of the Yankees' 31 hits to date, Schang and Meusel account for four of a limited seven extra-base hits. Babe Ruth has hit either team's only home run through five games. He and Wally Schang lead the Yankees in hitting with a .333 average, respectively.
So, just to be clear, the slugging Yankees have defeated John McGraw's Giants at their own game for the third time in five games.
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