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
vs.
POLO GROUNDS
Brooklyn "School Boy" Waite Hoyt Follows Carl Mays Gem With Brilliant Two-Hit Shutout; Miller Huggins' Yankees Seize Two Game Lead Over McGrawmen
After throwing the press for a loop in game one, this was the matchup desired by John McGraw, his crafty southpaw Art Nehf going against the young Erasmus High School product, Waite Hoyt for the Yankees.
But with the Giants playing the unfamiliar visitor role to the Polo Grounds, a first-inning error serves a portent of things to come.
Earl Smith fumbles Elmer Miller's foul pop-up behind home plate. With renewed life, Miller draws a leadoff walk. Roger Peckinpaugh is retired on a comebacker, Nehf to Kelly, with Miller advancing to second. Afterwhich, Babe Ruth is conservatively issued a base on balls. Bob Meusel then lines a grasscutter to third, expertly fielded by Frankie Frisch, who steps on third and throws to second to force Ruth.
The game remains scoreless through the third.
Unlike the first inning, following errors by the McGrawmen prove costly.
With one out in the home fourth, Aaron Ward singles to right field. Mike McNally follows with another comebacker to the mound, but Art Nehf throws errantly to second base pulling Dave Bancroft off the bag, and all hands remain safe. Wally Schang draws a walk to load the bases. Waite Hoyt then grounds to Johnny Rawlings, who foregoes the lead runner (Aaron Ward), steps on second, and throws to High Pockets Kelly completing the double play, but the action doesn't stop there. Speedy Mike McNally follows through on a poor decision, blows through third base, and is thrown out at home, Kelly to Smith.
Art Nehf and Waite Hoyt duel through another three scoreless innings.
With two outs in the home fifth, Babe Ruth garners a hardy roar from the crowd, not with his bat but his legs. The Sultan of Swat draws his third walk of the game, proceeds to steal second base, then third base to the delight of thousands.
One of the more unfathomable misplays of the day confirms what many among the 35,000 in attendance long suspected: the Giants simply are not in a fit state of mind. Leading off the home eighth, Roger Peckinpaugh pops up to third base, but Frankie Frisch ponderously drops the ball. Babe Ruth grounds to first base, forcing Peckinpaugh at second. Bob Meusel singles to center, advancing Ruth to third and pulls into second base on the throw. Ruth scores on Wally Pipp's grounder to second base, and Meusel advances to third. Then, with two outs and Aaron Ward at the plate, Bob Meusel executes a clean steal of home, giving the Yankees a 3-0 lead.
With one out in the visitor's ninth, Frankie Frisch singles, and Waite Hoyt walks Ross Youngs bringing the tying run to the plate. But High Pockets Kelly grounds into a 5-4-3 double play to end the game, McNally, to Ward, to Pipp.
Following Carl Mays' game one gem, the Brooklynite, Waite Hoyt, holds the Giants to a mere two hits and five walks with five strikeouts in a complete-game shutout effort. He takes a one-hitter into the ninth. No Giant makes it as far as third base, and only two runners reach second.
Art Nehf allows three runs, but only one is earned. Otherwise, he holds the Yankees to just three hits and seven walks over eight innings in a tough loss.
Bob Meusel, Aaron Ward, and Waite Hoyt wield the Yankee hits, while only Johnny Rawlings and Frankie Frisch account for the Giants.
One must now ask if the ghosts of World Series' past join together in haunting Little Napoleon. The Giants have won seven National League pennants in their 19-plus seasons under John McGraw, but not since 1905 have they donned baseball's jeweled crown.
Through two games Miller Huggins and his American Leaguers are defeating the McGrawmen at their own game. The Yankees have played flawlessly in the field, whereas the Giants cannot say the same. Despite McGraw's own mound maneuverings, Yankee pitchers have yielded just seven hits and no runs through the first 18 innings of the series.
Oft accused of being long-ball dependent, the Hugmen are also yet to hit a home run. Instead, their hits are timely; they've masterfully advanced runners and pushed them home. Lest we forget, Babe Ruth drove in the decisive run in game one with a first-inning single.
Meanwhile, Yankee aggressiveness on the basepaths is giving the Giants an appearance of being flat. Ruth has stolen two of five bases by the Yankees, with Mike McNally and Bob Meusel boldly swiping home plate in each of the first two games.
The Yankees only need to win three of the next six games to clinch their first-ever World Series title.
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